High Fructose Corn Syrup And Ads

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I couldn't help but notice a big label on the front of my bottle of Log Cabin Original Syrup that it announced "No High Fructose Corn Syrup" with "No" underlined. I'm not an expert on corn syrup except that I know that Coca-Cola made with cane sugar tastes better and is less sticky than when it's made with HFCS (e.g. Mexican Coke). But having noticed this bold proclamation on the syrup bottle, I turned the bottle around and looked at the ingredient list. I'm thinking they decided to make this syrup with pure cane sugar. Hooray! Um, no. The FIRST ingredient on this HFCS Free product was...you guessed it. CORN SYRUP!!! Um....

It turns out that while high fructose corn syrup is also corn syrup, apparently corn syrup is not high fructose corn syrup. This is to say that the HFCS is treated with enzymes to produce fructose and thus a sweeter syrup than plain old regular corn syrup. Basically, the regular stuff isn't sweet enough to be used in soda, for example. But to me, the idea of actually advertising that a product isn't using HFCS implies it's getting away from "corn" and going back to refined cane sugar (again, hooray!), but NOPE. It just means they hope you'll THINK that and not examine the ingredient list where to me corn is corn is corn and I don't give a flying hoot if it has more fructose (fruit sugar) in it or not, it's STILL corn syrup and *NOT* SUCROSE (refined cane or beet sugar). Now who cares if a syrup is more "syrupy" (unlike in Coca-Cola, for example where a clean finish is preferable, IMO), but apparently this is becoming the new TREND in advertising to mislead you into thinking "bad corn syrup" (some studies suggest HFCS in particular can cause obesity since it's more easily absorbed than complex sugars like sucrose) is being replaced with something better. But in the end corn syrup is still corn syrup and definitely not 'the real thing.' Neither is Coke made with it. It's not real. It's corny.

 

[Decrepit]

I would be really curious if that non-HFCS Log Cabin had a different caloric content per unit.

I'll take a look to see if my grocery store has it.

On advertising, it's shocking how dumb that advertisers think we are, as well as how dumb we really are.

Look at health food, green labels on everything means that some will assume it's healthy.

In milk, there was a controversy because a bunch of organic farms wanted to say "without BGH" and Big Dairy wanted that blocked because it implied it was bad to have BGH in their milk.

I would love it if food companies would have to label their food to a standard unit size. When you go to the grocery store, they'll say X/ounce, and a competing product will be X/pound. So you're back to doing math to see if either side is gouging.

 

[leekohler]

HFCS is nasty stuff. I refuse to put it in my body.

 

[GuyNextDoor]

HFCS blocks the satiation reflex, so you don't feel as satisfied when consuming it as with cane sugar, so overeating is more likely; it actually triggers sugar cravings instead of satisfying them. HFCS also puts a larger metabolic load on the liver than other sugars/sweeteners.

Because of government subsidies to corn growers, HFCS is cheaper than cane sugar. It also extends the shelf life of products, compared to sugar. Producers don't use it because it's better, just better for profits.

BTW -- If you're concerned about corn syrup in your Log Cabin, buy pure maple syrup. It's not expensive, is all-natural and tastes great. It also supports smaller, family-owned businesses.

FWIW, their "original syrup" is NOT their original syrup -- when I was a kid, it said right on the label that it was 5% maple syrup. Then it went to 2.5%. Now, I'm sure they don't state how much actual maple syrup is in there (as opposed to maple flavor). But it's certainly not what it once was.

 

[mgguy]

I just bought a 2-bottle package of the same syrup from Costco and thought the same thing. What is it about hfcs that makes it so bad, and why is regular corn syrup any better? Whatever; this syrup tastes damn good for the price.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I wouldn't say real maple syrup was cheap. It's about 3-4x more expensive than most artificially flavored syrups. Worse yet, I think some of the real maples I've had have tasted worse than something like Log Cabin (which after trying over a half dozen fakes including Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, Giant Eagle Brand, Golden Griddle and a few more I forget the names of all within a short period of time to compare) remains my favorite fake. Their sugar-free syrup is the only one I can stand that's artificially sweetened for that matter. I liked it better than a couple of the sugary ones. SOME real maples are better, of course. One I had from Vermont was spectacular as one was one made in Pennsylvania. I was disappointed in Giant Eagle's home brand maple made in Canada. It was the most reasonably priced but I thought Log Cabin tasted far better.

In any case, I don't drink much sugar soda these days, but I do wish it was easier to get cane sugar Coca-Cola for the few occasions where I want to treat myself (no diet Coke product is even close to regular Coke, even the corn syrup variety, but oddly, I like diet Pepsi products better than the regular ones which I always thought were TOO sweet and the reason why I hated Pepsi. The diet cherry Pepsi in particular is fantastic). I'd be willing to pay a price premium for it, even. I found out that this is entirely up to the bottling factory, not Coca-Cola, which only provides the stock syrup (how they get around the "original formula" thing beyond the cocaine years, at least since they don't add sugar period to the syrup). Sadly, no U.S. bottling plants produce it year round (a few make it around Passover). Most Mexican plants produce it since corn is at a premium down there for tortillas and the like making sugar cane cheaper. I guess the bottling plants here figure price is everything and American consumers are too low-brow to notice the difference. I've seen some studies that show obesity levels in the U.S. climbing right around the time the cola industry was switching to high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It may not be the only reason for higher obesity levels in the U.S. now than first half of the 20th Century, but it probably doesn't help either. There is one bottler (the original) that still uses cane sugar for Dr. Pepper, though in Texas.

 

[flopticalcube]

HFCS is really nasty stuff but as noted above, its an economics issue for the producers. It takes time for tastes to change. It took my kids about 3 months before they became accustomed to fruit juice being "sweet" after being weened off HFCS-based soda. Its the same with syrup although, as a Canadian, I must admit that not all maple syrups taste the same, not even close. Most of the stuff produced in or around the Adirondacks or lower Quebec (Gaspé Peninsula) always seemed to have the most depth of flavour to me.

 

[mgguy]

This thread is making me hungry for pancakes, and I already had one this morning. I guess it will be pancakes for lunch too. I just started making large thick wheat cakes and can't get enough of them. That on top of the great no-knead bread made in my dutch even are making this boy and his wifey in need of bigger clothes. Now, into the kitchen ...

 

[0098386]

I had a can of US Coca Cola once, it was terrible. I don't think we use it often in our foods (UK), certainly none of the foods I get have it in. But we're quite picky about what goes in our food here. Just a few years ago there was a huge backlash against hydrogenated fats.

 

[killerrobot]

Your first problem is that you didn't buy pure maple syrup. Everything else is going to contain more additives/preservatives/than anything that might actually resemble syrup.

 

[samiwas]

I had a can of US Coca Cola once, it was terrible. I don't think we use it often in our foods (UK), certainly none of the foods I get have it in. But we're quite picky about what goes in our food here. Just a few years ago there was a huge backlash against hydrogenated fats.

Wait...are you saying you prefer UK Coca-Cola? UK Coca Cola was pure vile if you ask me. I drink Coke like I own the company, but in the UK I just couldn't...it was just plain gross. My wife thought the same thing. But, everyone has their own preferences I guess. I prefer the US Coke over all others.

 

[SnailMailFTW]

I was in the store a few weeks ago and was looking at the Log Cabin syrup and noticed that too.

 

[Tomorrow]

But to me, the idea of actually advertising that a product isn't using HFCS implies it's getting away from "corn" and going back to refined cane sugar (again, hooray!), but NOPE.

It implies to me that it's an unprocessed corn syrup.

Think about it - even if you were to somehow melt down cane sugar (sucrose) into a liquid, it would still be syrup, it just wouldn't be corn syrup (glucose).

Nothing heinous about corn syrup; it's just a different type of sugar.

 

[0098386]

Wait...are you saying you prefer UK Coca-Cola? UK Coca Cola was pure vile if you ask me. I drink Coke like I own the company, but in the UK I just couldn't...it was just plain gross. My wife thought the same thing. But, everyone has their own preferences I guess. I prefer the US Coke over all others.

I always thought everyone loved Mexican and UK coke because they use sugar, and everyone hated the US one because of HFCS.

 

[steviem]

Yeah, I was under the impression that Mexican and 'Kosher' (sold in Jewish stores) coke were the Cokes that contain Cane Sugar.

I had Coke in NY and tasted the HFCS rather than sugar straight away, really didn't like it.

Although I went to a McDonalds and whilst the Frappes tasted nice, the fries had a much more noticable taste of oil in them - so much so that I hardly touched a french fry out there. Pure grossness.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I see Log Cabin now has a true maple syrup available. I bought to try it.

 

[baypharm]

It agree that sodas made with sugar taste better than ones made with high fructose corn syrup. They also taste better in glass bottles rather than in cans or plastic.

I recall in the early 60's when Mountain Dew was first introduced in glass bottles it was made with sugar and a bottle cost 5 cents. Somewhere along the line it was determined that HFCS costs alot less to buy than sugar. So the soft drink companies use cheaper ingredients and charge more. Only in America....

 

[Sun Baked]

It agree that sodas made with sugar taste better than ones made with high fructose corn syrup. They also taste better in glass bottles rather than in cans or plastic.

I recall in the early 60's when Mountain Dew was first introduced in glass bottles it was made with sugar and a bottle cost 5 cents. Somewhere along the line it was determined that HFCS costs alot less to buy than sugar. So the soft drink companies use cheaper ingredients and charge more. Only in America....

Got to look at how the cola companies deliver their syrup to the bottling companies.

They deliver it without the sweetner, and expect the bottler to add the sweetner, water, and CO2 ... so most bottlers are going to go with the cheap sweetners to improve margin.

Heck, doubtful Coca Cola would even want to allow a bottler to sell a product with a "made with sugar stamp" or something these days, since they control so much of what is on the bottle/can the licenses may not even allow it right now ... and they've also purchased the majority of their bottlers, nabbing the last major holdout not too long ago.

Now all we get is the Holiday bottling, and imports.