"CornSyrup" news and stories

Is anyone else fascinated by the new campaign to change the public opinion of high fructose corn syrup?

I live in a high fructose corn syrup free household and while I've read that that high fructose corn syrup is essentially the same thing as sugar, I do find it hard to buy into the the "naturalness" of it - especially after seeing King Corn.

The image of a friend offering a popsicle with high fructose corn syrup and being treated like a drug pusher could have been taken straight out of my life. Although, at this point, our friends know better than to even offer.

What are your thoughts on high fructose corn syrup? Did the commercial and the associated web site, Sweet Surprise, change your behavior towards the sweetener?

I pulled out my cookie tome yesterday - Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets - and went for the aptly-named Carole's Really Great Chocolate Chip Cookies. (I know, the name sounds like a cop-out - until you realize that these are in addition to the "Soft and Chewy Choc. Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter..." - Well, you get the point. After awhile, you run out of names.

No matter: I felt good about these babies. Of course, it was not until I walked the ten blocks home that I realized I'd forgotten the light corn syrup that the recipe called for. So, out came the laptop, in a frantic search for the proper ratio of sugar-to-liquid to make DIY corn syrup. (It's one cup granulated sugar to 1/4 cup water, cooked til thickened).

The cookies are made with 1/2 cup of 1-minute oatmeal to prevent them from spreading out too much while in the oven. It definitely seemed to help, although my first batch was a bit underdone (I cooked them for 12 minutes), and my second batch - at 14 minutes - was slightly crunchy. Although, I have to say, dipped in my coffee this morning, the latter batch was absolutely perfect. Perhaps I should have turned the cookie sheet halfway through, like Carole suggests, or gone with real corn syrup instead of my cheap-o substitute. No matter - despite my flops, they were still amazing. (Oh- and forgive the grainy laptop camera shot).

Check out the recipe after the jump.

Last Sunday, the Opinion section of the Boston Globe featured a rather passionate piece by Christopher Kimball, founder of Cook's Illustrated. Kimball rails against processed foods, saying that the often expensive and unhealthy products have infiltrated the food industry "like a cancer." The main points of Kimball's piece--trans fats, relentless marketing and the economic impact of obesity in America--won't come as a shock to most of us. Still, Cook's fans should appreciate hearing Kimball speak his mind about something a little more controversial than Dutch process cocoa. (Registration with Boston.com maybe required.)

[Via The Ethicurean]

I've been fiercely opposed to the chemically-altered and highly sweet high fructose corn syrup for years, and it's amazing to me that, as long as it's been known to have serious affects on health, contributing to rising obesity and diabetes rates, it's still ubiquitously available in foods. It's super sweet, and it's cheap.

Kate Hopkins from the Accidental Hedonist is, like me, a long-time member of the anti-HFCS camp. She's developed an exceedingly well-researched answer to a reader's question on how to argue the HFCS case when many corn industry marketing folks rave about how "natural" the product is.

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