"hfcs" news and stories

Mel Brooks once said, "A real bagel, you give it a name. You call it Larry or Murray because it's gonna be with you for a while." Truer words were never spoken: Even after one has managed to digest the chewy, monstrous carbo-bombs, bagels are notorious for sticking around your thighs -- or butt -- or wherever your body chooses to store its adipose flesh. With that in mind, I've cut back on bagels over the last few years, generally only bringing them out for very special occasions when I can justify a few extra carbs.

Indeed, in my family bagels and lox with cream cheese, capers and minced red onion are practically the official food of any celebration. Unfortunately, southwest Virginia, where I spent much of the last 20 years, is not noted for its highly developed bagel culture. Sure, the local grocery stores sold doughy rolls with holes in the middle, but calling them bagels is a pretty serious stretch.

While I'm not the biggest fan of Lender's bagels, I have to admit that they came through for me a few times. Sadly, they lack the thick, chewy skin that makes a real bagel such a ... lingering experience, but they have always been dense, tasty and reliably mediocre. Besides, from the mid-1990s on, I've been able to find them everywhere, which has proved very handy.

I like to have a sweet treat from time to time, especially if it is a homemade cookie or a lavish dessert made from scratch in one of my favorite New York City restaurants. But even if you don't splurge every day on dessert, you might be getting a lot more sugar than you should.

But how much is too much? And is sugar really bad for you as they say?

Historically, sugar consumption is on the rise -- here are some sugar shock stats (PDF). In 1970, each American was eating on average 123 pounds of sugar a year and today that number is up to 152 pounds -- which means three pounds in just one week, a little under one cup a day. Nutritionists say to limit sugar to around 13 teaspoons a day so we are getting almost four times the recommended daily amount from a variety of sources.

A lot of people are wondering if there is a healthy form of sugar: Since most of the sugars trigger the same rise in blood sugar, there is no real difference between them except for how quickly that sugar spike hits the system. This is where eating more complex carbohydrates and beneficial fruits is a great way to slow that blood glucose change and deal with the daily crave for sweets.

As in my last post, I still think it's OK to enjoy other forms of sugar in moderation; we all like our treats from time to time, especially on holidays and special occasions. But if you're looking for low-sugar treats, try my recipes for avocado chocolate milkshake, brown sugar ice cream or rugelach.

After the jump -- chewing the fat on "diet" food.

I tend to be pretty particular about my pizza. When I lived in Virginia, I plotted out most of my region based on the tastiest pizza, the best priced pizza, and a few other key pizza considerations. While New York is a daunting pizza town, I've spent much of the past few years figuring out the best pizza places, calibrating the difference between amazing pizza and that which is simply acceptable, and generally trying to figure out how to best enjoy one of my favorite foods.

While I prefer mom and pop pizza joints, I have occasionally been know to frequent chain pizzerias. Of the major pizza franchises, my favorite was always Pizza Hut; their flavors always struck me as particularly clean, and their ingredients always seemed quite fresh. However, when I removed high fructose corn syrup from my diet, I started being able to taste it in fast foods. One day, while eating a pizza, I detected its foul flavor in the sauce. A little research confirmed my suspicion: Pizza Hut was using the dreaded HFCS. In a moment, Pizza Hut joined the foully-sweet Papa John's and the blandly repulsive Domino's on my no-eat list. My "pizza island" got a little smaller, a little narrower, and a little sadder.

Recently, however, the chain has developed The Natural, a pizza that allegedly uses vine-ripened tomatoes and all-natural mozzarella, while eschewing artificial ingredients like HFCS, nitrates, nitrites, artificial colors, and preservatives. According to some sources, they are planning to extend this all-natural trend to the rest of their line.

It looks like I may have to revisit one of my old favorites!

When it comes to cranberry sauce, I've always been partial to the canned stuff. I like the shape that the can makes, and I like the simplicity of it - just crank it open and give it a couple of jiggles. However, this year, when I went to pick up the standard can, I happened to read the label and discovered that my beloved Ocean Spray is made with high fructose corn syrup. Despite those commercials that the corn refiners started running earlier in the fall, trying to convince the public that HFCS is just fine, I've been trying to avoid it. So back on the shelf went the can and I determined to make my own sauce, albeit as close in consistency to the canned version as possible.

I cooked down a bag of cranberries with some maple syrup, Meyer lemon juice and zest and some cherry cider (I would have used cranberry juice, but I didn't have any) until the berries were all popped and juicy. I then ran the whole mess through a food mill to smooth it out and get rid of the skins (I know that they are very healthy, but I wanted a can-like consistency and so they had to go). I toyed briefly with pulling out a mold (I have a few from my great-aunt) but decided that was overkill and just chilled it in a glass bowl so that you could see the bright redness.

The resulting cranberry sauce was pleasantly tangy, but with a discernable sweetness. It was still cloudier than the canned sauce and not quite as set, but I continue to be happy with the results. After a couple of days in the fridge, it's become like jam and I'm considering making more to can and give away as holiday gifts. More specific details, like measurements, after the jump.

If you're anything like me come October, you buy a big bag of Halloween candy, oh, three weeks before the actual holiday with the idea of "getting ahead"--only to have the entire bag mysteriously disappear, leaving you to explain to your significant other that it must have fallen into the cracks in the pantry. Or you're good, good, good until the day itself arrives, and ten minutes before the city's official trick-or-treating time starts, you're tearing over to the grocery to pick through the leftover bags because you've "accidentally" gorged on your own.

Or, (worst case scenario) you are really, really good until your kids have come home with their stash and collapsed into sugar comas in bed. And then you raid theirs and take out all the good stuff, and tell them the next day you went through the pile for "safety reasons."

This year, in order to distract myself from the actual candy, I decided to put together a little Halloween candy and wine-pairing guide. This way I'll have something to sip while I hand out candy and wait for my kids to come home with full buckets (insert evil grin here).

Candy and wine pairings after the jump.