Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Yet another reason to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup

Mercury.

Yup, it actually has mercury in it! Check out this Washington Post Article. A special thanks to Ellie and her new alternative cooking blog for the tip.

17 comments:

JesusThroughMary said...

It doesn't inherently contain mercury. The equipment used in the processing sometimes contaminates it.

Besides, a little mercury never hurt anybody....

Berji's domain said...

We make it a general practice to avoid HFCS when at all possible anyway, so I can smugly ;) say that I don't think I have purchased any of those items listed in the link in the past few years.
But it really is sad how much label scrutinizing one has to do to avoid HFCS.
All the more reason to make something yourself. Or do without.

Juris Mater said...

Oh, my Aunt Jemima "syrup product"... say it ain't so.

Fr. Christian Mathis said...

My brother will love this! He keeps telling me to avoid eating poison.

Alex said...

Ah, JM, how acutely I feel your pain! What are my Sunday morning pancakes without Aunt Jemima at the table? (A whole lot healthier, yes. I reckon this will become for me a battle of health-consciousness vs. guilty pleasure weakly legitimized by desire to re-live the "taste" of Sunday childhood breakfasts)

4ddintx said...

Alex and Juris Mater,

Real Maple syrup is an option. There are so many wonderful toppings for pancakes--jam, peanut butter, molasses, yogurt, berries and (real) whipped cream...

Molly said...

Oh, 4ddintx, real maple syrup is an option--but for those of us that love that fake, super-sweet, thick Aunt Jemima, it is not REALLY an option. Our house contains both real and fake syrup because my husband loves his from-the-trees version and I can't deal with anything but AJ.

It looks like I have to give it up now, though!

Alex said...

My thoughts exactly, Molly.

Juris Mater said...

Alex, love the "reminds me of my childhood breakfasts" justification. Molly, you said it sister.

4ddintx and Red, thanks for looking out for our health. I suppose you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink (or whatever the reverse of that is to apply to this situation) : )

Right Said Red said...

Maybe you are all addicted to the mercury.

But I will admit, when I switched to a more "natural" diet, the very last food-like substance I eliminated from my diet was Aunt Jemima syrup.

Juris Mater said...

By the way, I probably have a higher mercury count than a fresh tuna fish as a result of my ketchup and BBQ sauce consumption. I know both are high in HFCS. Not that we drink it over here, but as with any God-fearing American family, it's a fixture at a couple meals a week. What do you health gurus do to substitute for ketchup? Sweet potato fries dipped in organic whole tomato puree?

B-Mama said...

Oh my goodness, what would Gasperini-Ville do without ketchup?! Please tell me they make an organic, non-mercury version!!! I can honestly say I have ketchup with a side of burger and fries! :)

Anonymous said...

I am certainly not a health food nut, but during the summer the little ones and I do plant a lot of tomatoes and we do have an abundance or rather excess. I have tried this recipe and it is excellent. It really is easy and the three year old both loves helping to cook and eating lots and lots of ketchup including salad, eggs and apples. I can't vouch for it with store bought tomatoes, but I am sure if you stick to roma tomatoes you will be fine.

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/5/Homemade_Tomato_Ketchup8927.shtml

Anonymous said...

Trader Joe's sells Ketchup without any HFCS! It tastes great too... I'll admit, not exactly the same, but definitely good and definitely like ketchup.

Unknown said...

Okay, So those of you with a ketchup need, you can always make your own. It is really quite simple to do! If you aren't that kind of a gal, or guy, than buying the Heinz organic variety will eliminate it from your ketchup.
I would like to note, that the foods listed on my blog, aren't the only ones that contain Mercury. They have only tested a portion of the HFCS batches, which means, they will probably find more!
With that said, it is just best to avoid HFCS, not just because of Mercury, but because it isn't a natural product, despite what the Corn Refiners Assoc. Would have you believe. I will post a Ketchup recipe on my blog. http://alternativecooking.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Oh, and for those of you who can't stand the runny consistency of your natural maple syrup, you could always, gelatin, gugar gum or xantham gum it. That will thicken it.

texas mommy said...

Confession: I just fed Dash artificially flavored corn syrup laden mini-marshmallows for two weeks every time he went potty.
On the upside, I only have two in diapers now.