9:25 AM
Chaviva Gordon-Bennett
Note: This is a food/product review, but I also discuss a soon-to-be-posted giveaway of Katz Gluten Free. Read on if you want. I talk about my love of waffles, after all. Enjoy!
I run several different blogs, and it's hard sometimes to figure out where exactly to post things like food giveaways and reviews. I typically rock my Gluten-Free Kosher Critic blog with all of the yumm GF and, well, kosher things I find, and I hope y'all will hop over and take a look because probably 7 out of 10 items that I review are good for the regular consuming public and not just for those of us who can't handle gluten. In fact, I'd venture to say that all of the food I review is tasty for just about anyone, not to mention healthier (gluten-free products tend to have less *stuff* in them).
I'm going to be throwing up a giveaway from Katz Gluten Free, purveyors of goodies like gluten-free rugelach and cupcakes and challah rolls (yes, they have oat challah rolls now!), which, to be honest, is a good giveaway for anyone because the products can easily be frozen and kept in your freezer until you get that "Oh, by the way, I'm gluten free" email from your Shabbos guest. So stay tuned for that giveaway, which, likely, will be cross-posted here because of my wider viewership here.
What I do want to write about, however, is waffles and maple syrup. Every morning I wake up, throw some Van's Gluten Free Waffles or French Toast into the toaster oven, put together some yogurt, and then douse my waffles or french toast in some syrup. Now, traditionally I use Cary's Sugar Free Syrup, which, at a quarter cup, runs only 30 calories, 0 sugars, and 0 basically everything else. But then you look at the ingredients: "Water, sorbitol, cellulose gum, natural and artificial maple flavor, salt, aspartame, citric acid, caramel color, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (As preservatives), acesulfame potassium. Phenylketonutics: Contains Phenylalanine."
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| I kind of want to chug from this jug. |
Yikes. That's a lot of *stuff* to be in something as simple as syrup, even at 30 calories, which makes it a good pairing with my somewhat high-calorie waffles.
Today, I received in the mail from the kind folks that make Log Cabin Maple Syrup a jug (no, seriously, it's in a little jug) of their new, all-natural syrup (which happens to be gluten free). It arrived just as I was throwing some Van's GF Apple Cinnamon Waffles in the oven, so I thought I'd give it a go. Now, my eyes nearly popped out while reading the nutritional information: 210 calories and 35 grams of sugar in a quarter cup! Yikes! But, wait a second. This product has no high fructose corn syrup, no fake sugars, no fat, and no preservatives (so be sure to put it in the fridge after opening). That means there's a balance, right?
Stuff versus all-natural.
I don't think I'll be eating the Log Cabin Maple Syrup every day at breakfast, but I will tell you this: It tastes amazing. I think I forgot what real maple syrup tastes like, I haven't eaten it in so long. It's sweet and creamy and absolutely tasty. Log Cabin has been making syrup for 120 years, so it makes sense that they know exactly what they're doing! I look forward to using this syrup in cooking, and I tend to use maple syrup a lot (mmm, sweet potatoes and butternut squash).
So, like all things, there will be balance. Me, Log Cabin, and Cary's. One big, happy, syruped family!
4 comments:
Log Cabin All Natural Syrup is not real maple syrup. Matt from Vermont
matt@luenga.com
Seriously, for someone that spends so much effort observing what you consume, I think you would at least notice this is NOT MAPLE SYRUP!
It's corn syrup with FAKE coloring. The FDA is actually investigating their use of the term "All NAtural", as the FDA specifically says "natural" can't be attached to foods using coloring
Uh, yes I have a jug of Log Cabin All Natural Syrup right here, and it does contain real maple syrup, and as a matter of fact it does Not contain corn syrup. The coloring is caramel coloring, which is not red #40 or blue #5 or anything artificial. I'm sorry, I just have no patience for nay-sayers who haven't even tried the product. I like labels that say "All Natural" because it helps me weed through the junk. It it says all natural I check it out myself (I have to as my son can't have gluten, dyes, or dairy) and make the final decision myself just how all natural it is. My only issue is that I can not find anywhere on the bottle where it it is gluten free, something that would be very helpful before I can allow my son to have it.
I thought I would post the results of my question I sent Pinnacle Foods re: the Log Cabin All Natural Syrup, in case anyone else was looking for confirmation that it is gluten and dairy free. This was the response:
To learn more about our brands and promotional activity, we invite you to visit us online at www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com.
The source of the Caramel Coloring is proprietary, but Caramel Color is the result of the carefully controlled heat treatment of food-grade carbohydrates, including: dextrose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, molasses, sucrose, or starch hydrolysates.
There is no dairy in the caramel color of LC syrups….but…
Lactose is the major type of sugar found in milk and milk products, including human milk. It makes up less than 8% of the solids in milk and is not found naturally in any other food aside from dairy products, so yes, lactose is ‘dairy’.
Lactic Acid does not contain dairy. Despite the term ‘Lactic’ Acid, it does not come from dairy or lactose. It is produced by the fermentation of certain sugars.
There is no gluten in the Log Cabin Butter Flavored Syrup, in Log Cabin Original and Log Cabin Lite. Log Cabin Country Kitchen syrups are also gluten free.
The caramel color used in LC Original syrup does not contain any gluten ingredients; product is 100% caramel color. There is no Barley in the Caramel Color of the Log Cabin syrups. Our caramel color suppliers do not use wheat or gluten as source material.
There is a flavor in the Sugar-Free Syrups that does contain barley, so the Log Cabin Sugar-Free syrups are not considered to be gluten-free. There was a formulation change in 2010 so older bottles do not list barley in the ingredient panel.
Our supplier has confirmed that the Rice Syrup used for the 100% Natural Log Cabin Syrup does not contain - nor is it processed using anything that contains gluten. Any gluten-containing materials are segregated from the non-gluten containing Rice Syrup.
Hope this helps someone!
Thank you Chaviva, for the article and allowing me to post my comments ^^
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