Sponsored Post: Chemical Cuisine

May 24, 2012 | 5 Comments

(The latest post I’ve written for Attune Foods...)

When a food is too colorful, juicy, and “fresh”, I get suspicious – especially when it comes to dried fruit that is not meant to be any of those things. Dried fruit is meant to be faded, dry and chewy, not succulent and vibrant.  So it was with a feeling of “ew” when I bit into a well known brand of “dry” mango (hint: there is a man’s name in the name of the brand/store)  that was neon orange, cotton ball soft and lollipop sweet. The culprits were right there in the ingredient list: sugar (as if mango needs any help!), glycerine (to add moisture and a silky texture), sulphur dioxide (to keep the color from fading) – ingredients to ensure that the mango would never become “dry mango” which is what I was looking for!

Read the rest on the Attune Foods blog, here.

 

 

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  • Anonymous

    So which is worse – this or the hot dogs you wrote about?

  • Maston1

    Interesting, I never thought about the ingredients of dried fruit! So do you look for and is there dried fruit that does not ave those additives? I really like the store with mans name it, but will be a bit more skeptical when purchasing there.

  • http://www.thesweetbeet.com Michelle Madden

    When I do eat hotdogs I go for the ones that have naturally occurring nitrates in the form of celery salt. It is hard to say which foods are “worse” than others.  There are chemicals in many of our foods and for me the most important thing is to be AWARE of where they’re lurking and then determine how I can eat the foods I want without the chemicals. In the case of dried fruit, it’s easy, just buy dried fruit that is nothing but dried fruit.

  • http://www.thesweetbeet.com Michelle Madden

    Many dried fruits have nothing added to them …. whole foods is pretty good about no additives to any of their dried fruit including those sold in bulk.  But always read the ingredients of all packages to be sure.

  • http://worldplates.wordpress.com/ Amy

    Good news is “that store” also sells dried Mangos called “Just Mangos”, bought ‘em yesterday and they were good and tough and slightly discolored but tasted good and with only natural sweetness! I’d imagine the apricots in your photo are sulfured as well.