Yep. Bill Clinton, the oversexed poster-child for the Left-Side of the Boot On Your Neck Party knows that High Fructose Corn Syrup is a major cause of what's wrong in the American diet.He described the changing composition of the American diet and of food itself, and how the body metabolizes fructose, a soft-drink sweetener, differently and more destructively than cane or beet sugar.
Unfortunately, he and his fellow politicians will muddy the waters even more by getting involved because they will want to do something. It was doing something that got us into this sorry mess of having HFCS in everything on the market, even supposed "health foods" are often HFCS laden calorie bombs. As I have written before on the High Fructose Corn Syrup debacle, I know that there IS a solution. Get government out of the way, get rid of subsidies for corn and HFCS, quit protecting cane sugar and artificially inflating the prices via protectionism. Government interference has made it prohibitive to use natural sweeteners in foods and drinks. That's why a standard soda will cost you $.50 and a premium, cane sugar sweetened drink can cost you up to $2.00.
What Bill didn't bother to cop to was that government was probably the major culprit in the crisis du jour, now that tsunami relief is passe'. By interfering in the free market and subsidising corn and corn sweetners the government paved the road which has led to any obesity problem that might exist in this country. Go in your pantry and take a look at what you have that contains HFCS. You might be surprised, I know I am. Peanut butters, fat free and low fat mayos, beans, ketchup, "healthy foods" and low fat foods along with Root Beers and Sodas.
So, thank you Mr. Clinton for bringing this to the notice of your political peers. Now, if you really want them to do something....then urge them to undo what has already been done to us. Then we can get back to enjoying our Root Beers and Sodas the way they were originally formulated and enjoy better health as a side effect.
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3 comments:
A question for you, Michael: is there a difference between HFCS and the corn syrup one can buy (Karo is a well-known brand) at a grocery? If so, what is the difference? I've seen lots of truffle recipes that call for corn syrup, and I'm reluctant to try them, in part because of the backlash against HFCS.
Hey Sunni,
Yes, there is a difference between HFCS and plain old corn syrup. It's a essentially a matter of refinement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
Some candies just cannot be made without liquid syrup. They just won't turn out right or retain proper moisture.
I wouldn't worry too much about the backlash for plain old corn syrup, but I would check the ingredients because some corn syrups (probably many) contain HFCS. I would suggest trying Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of a corn syrup. My wife, the chemist and beer maker/candy maker and baker of the family assures me that Lyle's can be used. She's used it for candies and such and likes the flavour better than the corn syrup, which brings sweetness but no real flavour. Shoot, she uses it for beer. I've experimented with liquid syrups for Root Beer and they work well. I think Lyles or a similar liquid cane sugar may do the trick for you and avoid any backlash while adding another layer of flavour. The price can be higher but the quality insures a better taste and product.
Michael
A PS: The one thing that corn syrup does really well, and I forgot to mention is to keep sugar from recrystalising...especially in chocolates and fudges.
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