Sampler Platter: "Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone" Edition

what the hell is organic corn syrup? (4.00 / 4)

I just got back from Trader Joes. My daughter likes their tofu,peanut butter and shampoos. I usually don't buy soy ice cream, but I picked up one of their own...and one of the ingredients was organic corn syrup.same shit but organic?
does that make it better?

I didn't buy it...

---

by: LeeN @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 14:57:05 PM UTC

Better sure (4.00 / 3)

but thats a low bar to set to have something better than one of the worst ingredients in the world. I have read a chef or two that says that corn syrup is essential for a few dishes because of the taste/consistency. I can believe that, but I'd still rather just skip those dishes.

That's awesome that your daughter goes to Swarthmore. I grew up visiting that campus, my grandma still lives two blocks away. My g-pa was an engineer there for twenty plus years, and my mom and uncle both graduated from there in the late 60s-early 70s. It's a charming town and college.

---

by: Curtis Abbey @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 17:33:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sometimes you need corn syrup (4.00 / 3)

Pecan pie wouldn't be the same if you didn't make it with corn syrup. But that's a conscious choice based on a recipe where corn syrup is called for. Finding it in everything you buy? Bleah.

I got a big surprise a year or two ago when Seattle's biggest consumer co-op kicked Wheat Thins out of their stores, even the stone-ground multigrain ones. Seems they're made with HFCS, and PCC decided it wasn't going to carry anything made with HFCS.

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

---

by: Omir the Storyteller @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 18:15:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

au contraire! (4.00 / 3)

You can use Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of corn syrup in any pecan pie recipe.  http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.co...  It's made from sugar and invert sugar (sugar with acid added to separate the sucrose molecules into fructose and glucose). Yummy, too.

John Thorne has what I consider the ultimate pecan pie recipe, though I double the pecans. :) http://www.joyofbaking.com/pec...

I wish I knew half what the flock of them know
Of where all the berries and other things grow,
Cranberries in bogs and raspberries on top
Of the boulder-strewn mountain, and when they will crop.
--"Blueberries" by Robert Frost

---

by: wide eyed lib @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 19:48:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Never heard of such a thing (4.00 / 1)

but if it works, I'm all for it.

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

---

by: Omir the Storyteller @ Sat May 16, 2009 at 03:18:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ack! (4.00 / 3)

I never even knew such a thing was possible?

Are giant cornfields turning 'organic' now?  Really shows how out of touch I am when it comes to processed food ingredients, organic or not.  The only time I ever eat corn is during the summer, when I actually intend to eat corn by buying it straight from local farmers...

Well, okay - sometimes I eat it in tortilla form off a food cart as well.

:)

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!

---

by: JayinPortland @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 18:03:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'll admit to eating frozen corn (4.00 / 3)

Sometimes I just like cooking up a bowl of corn out of the freezer and eating it with salt and butter. Yum.

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

---

by: Omir the Storyteller @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 18:18:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh, I have... (4.00 / 3)

a few ears of frozen corn in my freezer, too - courtesy of our fellow La Vida Locavorean Joanne Rigutto...

:)

Thinking about planning Saturday's farmers' market trip around that, now.  Hmmm.  A corn, black beans and greens salad sounds really nice right about now!  Oh, and if I can find (and this time buy!) cukes tomorrow?  Ay, fugghedaboutit...

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!

---

by: JayinPortland @ Fri May 15, 2009 at 18:44:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Let me know when you're out of corn (4.00 / 1)

I'll get ya some more. We're going to be planting corn this weekend or monday.

To the question of organic field corn, yes there is. If you have organic chickens, pork, beef, etc. those animals have to eat organic corn, wheat, oats, etc., and the type of corn that is fed to critters is field corn, not sweet corn. You can save sweet corn for feed, but it shrinks like crazy, and field corn, aka dent corn, flint corn, etc., really dries better than sweet corn. For organic products that use corn, i.e. polenta, cornbread, grits, tortillas, etc. you have to use organically grown field/dent corn, flour corn, etc.  Also, if you have a dairy and feed corn silage in the winter, and you're organic, you have to have organically grown corn. So, yes, there are huge fields of organically grown field corn.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

---

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat May 16, 2009 at 17:52:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah, thanks... (0.00 / 0)

On both counts!

:)

Best of luck in planting, looking forward to hearing (seeing? :)) how things come along down there this year.

Re: field corn - thanks, I knew there was some use for it; but I didn't think there'd be enough organic field corn floating around that they'd start making corn syrup out of it.  Thanks for the info...

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sat May 16, 2009 at 18:47:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]