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-   -   Don't ever stop reading those labels (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=483520)

WereBear Sun, Jan-26-20 16:17

Don't ever stop reading those labels
 
I am livid with indignation. A while back it was reading the labels on bottled dressings: most of them now start with "water, sugar..."

And now I have figured out they are putting sugar in dried cherries!

This was once my baker's chocolate experience, with dried cherries, trying to duplicate a low carb version of a favorite holiday treat. But it created cravings.

Then I discovered it didn't: when I used fresh cherries. Looked at the bag: they put SUGAR in my dried fruit! WHY!?!?!?

As a gluten free person, I am used to discovered all kinds of things that have no business having wheat in them have wheat in them. They just don't want to sell food, do they?

So a reminder to me, and a reminder to you: even if you've been buying it for years, they've probably messed with it.

Ms Arielle Sun, Jan-26-20 17:17

sugar helps with the drying process fior dried fruit.....dried cranberries are sugar coated too.

Im planting my own fruit trees and bushes to have food as God intended.

WereBear Sun, Jan-26-20 17:20

I can understand cranberries: too tart for most people. Though I can get them frozen, cherries too, and that's what I'll do moving forward.

Calianna Sun, Jan-26-20 18:24

I started checking for added sugar in dried fruit... probably 2 decades ago, when I first saw un-sulfured, un-sweetened dried pineapple, and thought "huh? why would they need to point out that it's unsweetened?" So I checked the labels on the pretty dried pineapple, and yep, turned out they had sugar added to them along with the sulfur, to keep them looking pretty.

So I started checking some other dried fruit, and have checked it occasionally since then. Almost all of it has sugar added - pineapple, bananas, mango, blueberries, cranberries, apples, apricots, papaya, etc. As if drying them doesn't concentrate the sugar content enough. :rolleyes: Usually raisins don't have sugar added, but that's not always absolutely certain either. I think part of the reason is that sugar is a preservative, along with the sulfuring which also preserves color, and they usually add some kind of oils to keep the dried fruit somewhat leathery, instead of it needing to be almost crackly dry so that it doesn't get moldy in storage.

I haven't seen any dried strawberries in the stores that are sugared, but I think that's mainly because the dried strawberries I've seen are always freeze dried, instead of just air and heat dried. (not that they can't be air and heat dried, or had sugar added - I just haven't personally come across any commercially available dried strawberries that were not freeze dried without added sugar.)

WereBear Mon, Jan-27-20 03:12

No wonder dried fruit is such Kryptonite.

patriciakr Mon, Jan-27-20 04:46

I lost faith years ago when I found dextrose in frozen potatoes (I was buying for dh), and the same in Morton's salt.

I read labels religiously!!! I find a lot of foods to not be what I consider food anymore..ugh!

cotonpal Mon, Jan-27-20 05:17

This is why I stick almost exclusively to single ingredient food. No labels to read, little chance of error. I prefer ingesting real food to eating a chemical stew.

Ms Arielle Mon, Jan-27-20 08:48

Jean, respectfully, reading the label for single ingredient foods has become a must. Addatives are used for many purposes. Especially, sugar and sulfates in dried fruit.

patriciakr Mon, Jan-27-20 08:53

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Arielle
Jean, respectfully, reading the label for single ingredient foods has become a must. Addatives are used for many purposes. Especially, sugar and sulfates in dried fruit.

Absolutely!

cotonpal Mon, Jan-27-20 09:03

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Arielle
Jean, respectfully, reading the label for single ingredient foods has become a must. Addatives are used for many purposes. Especially, sugar and sulfates in dried fruit.


I guess I did not make myself clear. My single ingredient foods have no labels, just pure meats and vegetables consisting of nothing but the one ingredient, nothing added.The meat label only tell me the name of the food and it's weight and my vegetables are all fresh, bought at my food coop, organic with nothing added. Romaine lettuce is just romaine lettuce and scallions are just scallions. I am beyond careful.

GRB5111 Mon, Jan-27-20 09:10

Quote:
Originally Posted by cotonpal
This is why I stick almost exclusively to single ingredient food. No labels to read, little chance of error. I prefer ingesting real food to eating a chemical stew.

Makes it so much easier. I'm right there, the majority of foods I eat don't come with labels, or the ones that do say something like "100 percent ground beef, 85% lean" or "Triple-washed Arugula" or "NY Steak 100% beef" or "Chicken Thighs, no antibiotics, bone-in with skin" or "Wild caught salmon" when I get a good price. Any label that reads as long as "War and Peace" should be rejected on principle.

Kristine Mon, Jan-27-20 12:26

Agree on the advice to always read labels, even if you think you know what's in it. I don't trust my memory. Just recently, I bought a tube of sausage meat that I could have sworn was gluten-free. I was wrong - and I'm glad I read it again before I cooked with it, just to double-check. A coworker will be inheriting it.

Ms Arielle Mon, Jan-27-20 14:05

Quote:
Originally Posted by cotonpal
I guess I did not make myself clear. My single ingredient foods have no labels, just pure meats and vegetables consisting of nothing but the one ingredient, nothing added.The meat label only tell me the name of the food and it's weight and my vegetables are all fresh, bought at my food coop, organic with nothing added. Romaine lettuce is just romaine lettuce and scallions are just scallions. I am beyond careful.



gott it. Im with you on looking toward the real foods as the basis of a real diet.

Anything even moderately processed needs a reading. Canned clams has added sugar.

Even meats are gassed.....

Ms Arielle Mon, Jan-27-20 14:07

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristine
Agree on the advice to always read labels, even if you think you know what's in it. I don't trust my memory. Just recently, I bought a tube of sausage meat that I could have sworn was gluten-free. I was wrong - and I'm glad I read it again before I cooked with it, just to double-check. A coworker will be inheriting it.



Re gluten free, Formulation could have changed.....

Kristine Mon, Jan-27-20 15:36

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ms Arielle
Re gluten free, Formulation could have changed.....
Absolutely. After it happened, I was reminded of whoever it is here (sorry, poor memory again :o ) whose signature reads, "Read every label, every time."

(ETA) Wearbear, the sugar added to dried fruit was the original reason I bought a dehydrator. My ex liked the storebought sugary stuff, but it was too sweet. We wanted it sugar-free, so I made my own. Pain in the butt, though.


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