The Manlius Formation

Apparently, yes.

After a boat tour during our recent camping trip to Canada^[1] we stopped off at a restaurant on the shore of the St. Lawrence River. One interesting thing about traveling in Ontario, as you probably already know, is that everything is in French and English.

As I was admiring the Heinz Ketchup and Relish labels, I noticed that neither contained high fructose corn syrup. This piqued my curiosity since HFCS is the first or second ingredient in nearly every packaged food product in the U.S.

I came home eager to do some research and see if Canada has something on us here. Have they found a way to force this evil ingredient to be banned from food? ^[2]

Alas, my joy was short-lived.

The second ingredient in the relish was glucose-fructose, which is apparently Canadian for “HFCS.” This isn’t surprising since HFCS is corn syrup which has had a percentage of its glucose enzymatically converted into fructose.

As for the ketchup, it had “liquid sugar” listed as ingredient two, but a quick check at the Sugar Association website gives this information about liquid sugar:

Liquid Sugar

Liquid sugars
There are several types of liquid sugar. Liquid sugar (sucrose) is white granulated sugar that has been dissolved in water before it is used. Liquid sugar is ideal for products whose recipes first require sugar to be dissolved. Amber liquid sugar is darker in color and can be used in foods where brown color is desired.

Invert sugar
Sucrose can be split into its two component sugars (glucose and fructose). This process is called inversion, and the product is called invert sugar. Commercial invert sugar is a liquid product that contains equal amounts of glucose and fructose. Because fructose is sweeter than either glucose or sucrose, invert sugar is sweeter than white sugar. Commercial liquid invert sugars are prepared as different mixtures of sucrose and invert sugar. For example total invert sugar is half glucose and half fructose, while 50% invert sugar (half of the sucrose has been inverted) is one-half sucrose, one-quarter glucose and one-quarter fructose. Invert sugar is used mainly by food manufacturers to retard the crystallization of sugar and to retain moisture in the packaged food. Which particular invert sugar is used is determined by which function – retarding crystallization or retaining moisture – is required.

Home cooks make invert sugar whenever a recipe calls for a sugar to be boiled gently in a mixture of water and lemon juice.

To all this I say: Meh.

1. more in a later post [back]
2. It’s a well-known fact that tee-ball, the NY Times crossword puzzle, and HFCS were invented by the devil. Well, not really, but they should all be experienced in moderation. See this interesting post for some HFCS background if you’re interested. [back]

You may recall my earlier post on the tomato blight issues I encountered this year. I have a few updates for you:

Fact one: while traveling through my neighbor’s yard on the way to another neighbor’s yard, I noticed that his tomato plants were doing fine. These plants came from the same plastic egg-carton seedling holder thingie two of mine came from. Fact two: the tomatoes on the heirloom plants are way more fungusy (is that a word?) than the two I got from my neighbor. These facts make me change my mind about the root of the fungus infection. Sorry, neighbor.

With that confession out of the way…

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Just a quick note to point you to gallery additions from about a month ago. In late July we headed up to my parents’ trailer at Russell Brook campground. We had a nice visit, including a belated b-day celebration for my mom:

Poppy and Thomas had fun as well:

Check out the Russell Brook gallery for more photos at the trailer.

Ingredients:
4 Adults
5 Boys
Beach toys
Many gallons of gasoline
Parsley

Instructions:
Evenly distribute first three ingredients between two minivans. Add gasoline. Point vehicles east. Drive 4-5 hours until Boston is reached. Rest for 2.5 days. Drive north 1.5 hours to beach. Bake at 85 degrees for 2.5 days. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

We had a great time this week in Boston for a few days, followed by
a few more in Maine.

In Boston we enjoyed a visit to the aquarium, a tour of Fenway, a boat tour, and a Duck Tour. After a few days of that, we headed north to Maine, where we hit the beach and took the boys on a fishing trip.

On the way back we stopped off to see Rob and Holly in their new home.

A great time was had by all. Visit the gallery to see some photos of the fun.

You try to raise them right. You do what you can to keep them healthy. You do everything in your power to ensure they grow up in a nurturing environment. You encourage them to be independent, and not follow the crowd.

And then the throw in with their peers and join whatever craze is in fashion at the moment. I thought we’d be immune to it, since all indications up to this point were positive. I was wrong. And it happened so fast I hardly saw it coming.

So in order to minimize my losses, I’ve decided to keep the bits that are worth saving and let the remainder work itself out.

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A few weeks ago, the beets were a good size - and getting a little crowded - so I decided to do a little canning experiment. I did some research^[1] and discovered that if I pickled the beets I wouldn’t need to buy a pressure canner^[2] so all I’d need is a big pot to boil the filled jars in.

I found a few quart-size canning jars we had collected over the years, so I only needed to acquire some new lids (a few bucks at Wegman’s). Other than that, the only other newly incurred expenditures were time and electricity.

A summary of the lessons learned:

1. Give yourself enough time. If you don’t want to feel like you’re rushing, you’ll want to do some preparation and planning before you dive in and chop stuff up. I did not do this.
2. As a corollary to number 1, make sure you have enough of everything you need, like sugar.^[3]
3. What looks like a lot in the beginning doesn’t look like so much at the end. A blue bin filled with beets and their greens became two-and-a-half quarts of pickled beets. It makes sense when you think about it, but is a bit underwhelming when you look at all the dirty bowls and pots.
4. Pickling is wicked easy – it’s a shame we’ve become so detached from basic skills like this.

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1. This site was the most useful [back]
2. I have since discovered a co-worker with one he’s willing to lend me next time around [back]
3. a tip of the hat to the Cook family – I had never actually borrowed a cup of sugar before! [back]