Posted on 11/03/2014 5:16:47 AM PST by John David Powell
Here’s some food for thought about what’s in your pantry. And that’s blueberries.
Or “little blue dynamos”, as the folks at the US Highbush Blueberry Council like to call them.
Not only are they blue, but they are good for you, too. Good for your heart, good for your brain, good for your liver, and may reduce your risk for cancer.
But that only works if they are the real deal, and you probably will not find them in that blueberry muffin mix on your pantry shelf.
The Food Identify Theft blog claims most mixes are “just plain awful.” But that’s for you to decide.
The folks who run the site single out Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffin Mix in the pouch, and in Jiffy Blueberry Muff Mix in the mini-box.
They say that when you read the list of ingredients for either product, you will not find blueberries. Artificial blueberry bits, yes. God’s real bluberries, no.
But you will find sodium aluminum phosphate, or SAP.
The Food and Drug Administration says a little SAP will not hurt you. Trouble is, not only is SAP in muffins, it’s also in fizzy drinks and in cosmetics.
British researcher Chris Exley says the accumulation of aluminum, as in sodium aluminum phosphate, could put people at risk for Parkinson’s and Alzheimers.
And that’s the crazy thing about what’s in your pantry. Just about everything in there probably will not hurt you , by itself, if you eat it on occasion.
It’s kinda like being buried in the sand at the beach. You’re okay until the tide comes in. Just some food for thought.
In other words, read the label.
I already do that.
How ‘bout that! Democrat blueberries!
> How ‘bout that! Democrat blueberries!
Running as “Independents” or “Libertarians”.
Just had some of these bad boys in yogurt for breakfast & expect to be cancer free all day.
But perhaps we are going down that sort of road today.
Undocumented blueberry violence. Discrimination is prohibited by law.
Blueberry juice is great too. I hate artificial blueberries. Maine should sue artificial blueberries makers. :-)
I buy the frozen Dole wild blueberries and have them on my Total cerial most mornings.
While they are not my favorite fruit, my wife fixes a fruit cup with every meal and we always add blueberries just because they are so good for you. Mixed with everything else i really don’t even notice them.
In other words, read the label.
You'd be better sticking to foods that don't have labels.
How would one go about producing an artificial blueberry bit?
This year I picked about 4 crates of them and froze em. I make a dozen blueberry muffins every week, and have enough for the occasion blueberry pancake breakfast and a couple of pies for the holiday.
Usually homemade is better than processed, for several reasons.
1) Fruit juices, especially citrus, are first “de-oxygenated” to extend their shelf life, but this also strips them of flavor, which is replaced with products designed by perfume makers, to give them a standard color, flavor, and odor. Others are dehydrated, to much the same effect, then reconstituted with other ingredients.
2) Pasteurization does not kill all of the bacteria in milk, just reducing the level of bacteria so that it takes longer to spoil when refrigerated. Fully Pasteurizing milk until it is sterile makes it taste bad and changes it chemically. However, there is now Ultra High Temperature (UHT) (flash) heating of milk and cream that does sterilize it, so much so that it does not need refrigeration. It still tastes bad and chemically changes the product, so is only useful if you have no other choice.
3) Irradiated foods have been sterilized of bacteria, but their downside is both that they need to have a balanced pH, neither acidic nor basic, and that bacteria often makes food taste better. So they are rather bland.
4) Some fresh meats are now put in sealed containers with a small amount of carbon monoxide. This makes them keep a bright red look even past their expiration date, so it is important to note the date on the package.
Since the subject is blueberries, I have a question. There is a large, rather tall (8 feet+) “tree” on the side of my driveway where ever year, what appears to be blueberries falls all over the driverway (makes a mess) because the dogs run through them and squash them. I’m not sure they are blueberries although I have seen birds feast on them. I thought there were blueberry bushes, not trees? I’m afraid of tasting one for fear they are not blueberries. If they are, however, I must think of a way to capture and harvest them before they land on my driveway.
The Blue Crop are the next best and some of them can be the size of a quarter. We use to ship them to Switzerland. I can't imagine what they paid for them after shipping.
Elliots are the last berries to come in, but they don't even taste like a blueberry.
That sounds like a mulberry tree. Very sweet tasting fruit looks more like a blackberry.
Well we are letting in the low end of the normal curve. That will reset some of our averages.
We used to have the tallest people but we now let in short mal nourished ones and we are no longer the tallest.
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