I am not a member of or supporter of the food police. If people want to smoke, imbibe in alcohol, smoke dope, eat fast foods, etc., well, that is their concern, as long as it does not spill over adversely to me. I am more concerned right now about the unofficial agents of the nanny state trying to control what we consume than any harmfulness in the products, many of which are just alleged. There is one thing, however, I have come to despise.
That something is called "high fructose corn syrup."
My objection is very simple. It is all about taste.
Call me slow, but I have been wondering for a long time why I have grown to hate candies, baked sweets, cake mixes, and the like. I never liked bottled and canned sugared soft drinks, and I do not have the sweet tooth that my wife does, in common with other women. However, now and then, I want some candy or a sweet baked item or a piece of pie or pudding. Not often does this craving hit, and it does not last long.
I have simply been repulsed by anything I buy from grocery stores or make from mixes. There is an excessive and cloying sweetness I never noticed growing up, and that "sweetness" makes me want to run for some insulin. The sweetness tastes cheap, also.
Then I had a "Doh!"
Manufacturers have gone crazy over high fructose corn syrup. It is in everything sweet. It is even in things not supposed to be sweet. Look at the food label and see if this stuff does not show up as the third or fourth ingredient, even on a number of savory items.
Acting on the light I received from my "Doh!" I bought a jar of foreign chocolates, after carefully reading the ingredients. These come from Belgium, France, Canada, etc. VOILA! This is candy as I remember it. Maybe high cost, high quality candy is the way to go, without incurring any big costs since I eat it seldom.
Before the "Doh!" had really percolated deep enough into my cranium, I decided to make some gingerbread, since I really love ginger. I made it according to the directions on the mix. It was awful. It was almost ginger-less, and it tasted like high fructose corn syrup cake. Well, the raccoons liked it.
So, it is to scratch baking now. The Joy of Cooking has no recipe that I have found using high fructose corn syrup. I am eager to rediscover baked goods as I knew them growing up, before high fructose corn syrup.
At times, I wonder about all those prepubescent and adolescent kids, those waddling mamas, and all the people stuffing down that high fructose corn syrup. What are they doing to their Islands of Langerhans in their pancreases?
Even worse, they may well not even know that the stuff they are ingesting is profoundly inferior in taste. Or, have their bodies been readjusted to consider the cloyingness of high fructose corn syrup to be "normal"? God help us.
