Monday, February 11, 2008

5 Ingredients or less

The following list are the ingredients in South Beach Peanut Butter Cookies:
Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt), High Oleic Canola Oil, Maltitol (*), Sugar, Corn Starch, Polydextrose (*), Partially Defatted Peanut Flour, Oatmeal, Brown Rice Syrup, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Calcium Phosphate), Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Caramel Color, Natural & Artificial Flavor, Acesulfame Potassium (Sweetener), Sucralose (Sweetener)

What the heck is Acesulfame Potassium? This list is fairly tame compared to say the twinkie...

The list of ingredients of a Twinkie is a veritable Who's Who of the food chemical world and the following is a list of ingredients as provided on a ten-pack of Twinkies. Take a deep breath:

  • Enriched Wheat Flour - enriched with ferrous sulphate (iron), B vitamins (niacin, thiamine mononitrate [B1], ribofavin [B12] and folic acid).
  • Sugar
  • Corn syrup
  • Water
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Vegetable and/or animal shortening - containing one or more of partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed or canola oil, and beef fat.
  • Dextrose
  • Whole eggs

How's your stomach? Really? Oh dear... Well hold tight because Twinkies also contain 2% or less of:

  • Modified corn starch
  • Cellulose gum
  • Whey
  • Leavenings (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate)
  • Salt
  • Cornstarch
  • Corn flour
  • Corn syrup solids
  • Mono and diglycerides
  • Soy lecithin
  • Polysorbate 60
  • Dextrin
  • Calcium caseinate
  • Sodium stearol lactylate
  • Wheat gluten
  • Calcium sulphate
  • Natural and artificial flavours
  • Caramel colour
  • Sorbic acid (to retain freshness)
  • Colour added (yellow 5, red 40)

  • Hmm, pretty gross - I'd say that if you can't pronounce it, you can't find it in your kitchen and you'd rather use it to clean your floor, don't eat it.

    This philosophy should apply to lean cuisine dinners as well. It may seem lean, but its certainly not cuisine.

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