K8memphis

So you believe that caloric control alone will reduce weight? Sugar and hfcs does hurt our blood sugar and this does get really dicey as it progresses with the liver thing that can create weight issues in addition to cardio blockage and stroke and diabetes, cancer. When folks get sick, it is recommended that they cut back or eliminate sugar and eat a proper diet. If it's not harmful, it's use would not be discouraged or forbidden. Sugar is simply an allowed poison. A little won't kill you. America in general is way beyond this point. The 'a little' point. I'll grant it's the same chemically as fruit sugar. It is however so refined it is dangerous to us. If we refined habernaro or jalapeno to that extent and used it our food (as in the craving for spicey food being equal to the craving for sweets scenario) we would burn our tongues off with the first use.

Yes it is wonderful that this works for me. Freaking miracle. Too bad I don't stick to it better. It's too cold to exercise. But again not my point exactly. It's sugar being an addictive poison in our bodies that is my point. However, far beyond the weight loss theories and I don't want to get bogged down there (I just wanted to use the quotes to say that all correctly) is the bigger question/mystery of sugar. Sugar is addictive in the sense of it being craved by the body in those pancreatic islets of langenhan that scream "FEED ME FEED ME" if they don't get what they are accustomed to. It is not addictive in the bigger sense of the war on drugs, carjacking etc. But it nonetheless creates a war for many and certainly is a healthjacker over time. Sugar now. The white stuff. And the foods that become pure sugar in the bloodstream like orange juice for example and rice cakes. That's real bad juju. But remember it's a quicksand. You have to add in the time. It takes a while to sink and not all of us succumb but lots & lots do and it's a vicious cycle. Would you not agree that the Battle of The Bulge is epidemic? For example, take a cola drinker, overweight or not. At a certain time in the day, they are going to have to have one or go for a substitute (methodone ) or go cold turkey. That's beyond a bad habit, it's a craving and an addiction. If someone with a regular intake of sugar went cold turkey, they will have a fight on their hands. They will feel bad for a day or two. Now they can get 'a fix' in a lot of other ways as has been mentioned. If you don't get your daily spicy burrito you do not feel ill. Please define 'popular imagination' how old or recent is it? I really like that phrase but I've been thinking this way for over 30 years. Since a generation is 20...that's not so pop culture. The books I quoted are recently published. But health food publications have been trouncing sugar forever. It's bad.

Oh that's awesome, Ruth! Can't wait for feedback. Honestly, schools are businesses first and teaching instututions second. You want to learn, that's the place to go.

PS. My understanding of this insulin/blood sugar thing is that overnight our wonderfully designed incredibly resilient and adaptable selves reconfigure our blood chemistry and we start off fresh every morning. Depending on when as in how early we might blow it during the next day, to what extent we blow it and what our momentum has been in this sugar-consumption-that-triggers-insulin-release-that-means-fat-storage-today-boogie determines how much more damage we do. And also incredibly as we gain momentum in avoiding the sugar trap boogie we can actually start reversing the ill effects to some extent depending on the multi myriad of factors involved. I would also like to say that you don't know how good you can feel once you get off sugar until you do get off. It's an addiction. It's hurts to get off. And you constantly want it once you get off it anyways no matter how great you feel. I say 'you' in the figurative sense. It is true for me and I know true for anyone else who's done it. But man, Valentine's was too hard! I fell off the wagon and like at least one wheel rolled over me while I, oblivious and deliriously happy watched the belly of the wagon pass over me in the delights of chocolate heaven!! If I stay off sugar and really limit my Splenda intake I can look 5 years younger in a month. Or if I eat more exactly I can see a quicker change. Conversely, you can see the wagon ruts in my mug for my 2-day sugar spree. I may be rolling my eyes but I'm patting my belly

I don't see any evidence whatsoever that high fructose corn syrup "blows your blood chemistry" or is "bad for the body" or, indeed, is any worse for you than sucrose. What is bad is that people are eating way too much processed food, which has health consequences that go far beyond overconsumption of simple sugars (too much salt, too much fat, too much saturated fat, etc.). ← I'm curious as to what do you mean by simple sugar in the phrase "overconsumption of simple sugars?" I think we've had this almost discussion before and I'm going to answer this question as to why I believe this from a medical standpoint. I'm not doctor/scientist guru-girl. I know how I have come to understand this, but I want to write it carefully so that my science is correct which is why I'm hesitant to write it. I will be back and explain it though. But in the meantime, would you explain what you mean by simple sugar? Thanks ← "I don't see any evidence whatsoever that high fructose corn syrup "blows your blood chemistry" or is "bad for the body" or, indeed, is any worse for you than sucrose. " See to me sugar is like quicksand, it sucks you in and takes you down. It's no secret it's addictive is it? Whether hfcs is the fire that sweeps through the forest to destroy you before you disappear in the quicksand or is just another form of quicksand doesn't really make a great deal of difference to me. It's all rotten for our health. I want to be clear I am not talking about the sugar in fresh fruit, however mono duo or trio it may be I am still not science-girl. I know what I know about sugar and it's equally prolific partner in crime, hfcs. Lemme quote Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardio doctor of South Beach Diet fame from his book page 103...104. From Dr. Perricone of The Perricone Prescription page 35 & 36, Sugar is pure blood chemistry nightmare. Sugar is so much more insidious than trans fats, the trans fat bans are simply ludicrous to me. But sugar is poison to the body. White sugar. late edit to put in the quote tags & fix some typos

My kidlette, Teacher-girl, made the Peanut Butter Sizzle, page 102 for her husband for Valentines. They were fabulous! Awesome, just really a sophisticated flavor. He loves peanut butter and chocolate. We thought that the toffee and the cayenne put them over the top. Making truffles was a first for her and since it was to be a surprise and her goal was to make something sweet for a gift she did use a few shortcuts. She wound up using two and a half pinches of cayenne and it was just right. And BonBonMan, something I really appreciate about the book is how easy it is to flop open and use. I really like the soft-ish/hard-ish cover. I know they were a big hit! Thanks, Drew. late edit for spelling

Tons of cinnamon sugar. Now it has to be done properly. High ratio of cinnamon* to sugar. The bread is toasted first of course. Well done, none of this rare stuff. The type of bread is important but a mere vehicle to support the cinnamon joy. And no loitering when it pops up out of the toaster. If you don't hurry the butter won't melt, it's a carefully timed performance. Then buttered, so all of the surface is covered and the butter disappears into the depths, then a deep deep layer of cinnamon sugar, so that it will still crunch in your teeth with every bite and you have to hold the slice upright lest glistening goodness slide off and be gone. Oh my god, my husband buttered and cinnamon-ed before toasting--can you say soggy mess? Pu-uhlee-ease! *Saigon cinnamon might be applied a little lighter...but maybe not either...

I have messy cookbooks but it has taken me years to get here. When I finally realized that the nuns would not chop the back of my hands with a ruler for sucha sin, ETalanian will know exactly what I'm talking about, I started making my notes and comments in the margins. Multiplications for larger/smaller quantities. Plus I now add a little piece of folded scotch tape hanging off the favorite pages to mark the spot. Not that I couldn't follow the path of bread crumbs I left behind... For the record, they never got me with the ruler thing but I had an older brother that rued the day when the ruler people started putting that metal edge on the wooden rulers!! Made a believer out of me! As well as recording favorite other recipes on the blank pages. Geez they'd probably use a compass on me for all that. Good one!

It's not the adding of the color--it's when the color is added. If it is added after the cookie dough is already made, then the extra working of the dough to incorporate the color make the cookie come out more like bread than cookie--it toughens the cookie to re-work it enough to incorporate the color evenly. So you wanna add color to the eggs & fat & stuff so it doesn't mess up the texture.

How sweet and Valentines-y too! Thanks

I don't see any evidence whatsoever that high fructose corn syrup "blows your blood chemistry" or is "bad for the body" or, indeed, is any worse for you than sucrose. What is bad is that people are eating way too much processed food, which has health consequences that go far beyond overconsumption of simple sugars (too much salt, too much fat, too much saturated fat, etc.). ← I'm curious as to what do you mean by simple sugar in the phrase "overconsumption of simple sugars?" I think we've had this almost discussion before and I'm going to answer this question as to why I believe this from a medical standpoint. I'm not doctor/scientist guru-girl. I know how I have come to understand this, but I want to write it carefully so that my science is correct which is why I'm hesitant to write it. I will be back and explain it though. But in the meantime, would you explain what you mean by simple sugar? Thanks

Yes you can add food color to that creamed mixture. And yeah after the flour gets in there it gets tricky. But umm, hey, you can take some of your dough, thin it out with water and add food color to that. Then pipe that onto your cut out pre-baked cookies. We do smilie faces or whatever. I mean you can decorate them before you bake them. Just experiment a bit with the consistency, you want a nice pipe-able consistency and then bake, you're golden. Y'know test one or two first to be sure all is well and get the feel for it. You could pipe over the entire top if you want. And for sure it flattens out some but you can pipe anything on there, names, faces, whatever, monograms, outlines, etc. As an aside: Now this is a great example of where a pro would take a small batch made with shortening or part shortening to make the loose dough that is combined with water so it does not spread out so much when it is piped and then baked. But should work with butter doughs too.

Fresser, I love Beer Barrel Polke! Coke-a-la for CocaCola from Chef-boy himself in his early single digit years. (He also said lestrickity for electricity which is not foodie but noteworthy nonethless) Umm, some people use lestrickity to run their ovens

Yes. I hadn't meant to enrage you, and I'm sorry if I did. So many of the bakers here are saying that customers don't need to know so many things, and that they don't want customers micro-managing their businesses. But this is true of every business that there is. People want to micro-manage their car repair shop so they can get their car sooner, people want to micro-manage their web designers because they think they know a better way to do something, people want to micro-manage their supermarket so they get the products they want, and bascially people want to micro-manage everything. But can you imagine what life would be like if everybody decided to withhold information about everything because they don't think people want to know it? It'd be sheer and utter chaos. Well, we can work to change that. I hope that K8memphis will chime back in. I understand her concerns about fats and sugars hidden everywhere in processed foods, because she and I were taking that same argument against other posters on another thread. I'd like to know how she would feel if the people preparing some food that she bought that didn't have to have ingredient labels decided that it'd be better for her if she didn't know the hidden fat content of the food, for all the reasons she and the other bakers are giving here for withholding other types of information. In the case of the red food dye, I still think that the best answer is one that was given to me when I asked about the trans fats in an appealing-looking cake I saw at a bakery. The baker said, "yes, it's made with trans fats. To make it with all butter would add about $12 to the price of the cake. Would you be willing to pay that?" ← My aged computer gave up the ghost, I am at my kidlette's house. But this is really interesting. An organic baker would totally want every jot and tittle revealed. That would be the nature of thier business. That's their pride and joy. But and y'all could not have chosen a more perfect example because I kept little Chef-boy off of red food coloring like a hawk when he was little because of all these blablabla reasons. So I would not purchase any product because I would loose my control of every crumb the poor little kid ate. Might be why he went into food huh? But be that as it may... But freezing does not produce any allergic reactions that I am aware of. And I would venture to give my ingredient list as it pertains to allergies etc. In my experience, what I would say is that my products are not safe for whatever allergy and that in the case eof a wedding cake, I can make a small portion of the cake to correspond to their need as best I can, however I do not guarantee things for celiac's or nut allergies where anaphylactic shockand death is emminent. Just requests for light adjustments. Now my biggie here is that I do not see myself as the guru of all things baking. It's not my responsibility to educate the masses. I'm not opposed to 'sharing' obviously, but I do not expect to calm the fears and resolve every mistaken notion and retain my customer base. Mark, If you were a regular I would reveal some secrets but I would have already taken your pusle too. I tea-totally would not reveal something that I knew would be a deal-breaker. Sorry, I'm really capatalist that way. I've had my own home business forever but when I actually opened up a retail place where I was responsible for every dime and dirty dish, you better believe that no one would be more disappointed than me if you found out whatever secret I was keeping from you and you quit me. But damn me if I didn't keep it hid as long as I could. Tough Love. Hopefully we'll be replacing the computer soon...

The health department would have a hissy fit. It was kept hidden in the office. I mean it never could be exactly food safe or sanitized or anything. The desserts there are over six bucks. (That's on the higher end for Memphis) It's a very nice place to eat. My husband is a service tech and he's had to service the equipment that's the only way I ever found out. But I got another one-- I used to work for this company that had a baking department. They had so many day old fried goods that they were all in a line waiting to get really old enough to be put out. So the day olds that actually were out there were probably four days old. Four day old doughnuts are sorry sorry limp sweaty things. ugh None were ever sold. It was hysterically funny though. The way you had to make sure you kept putting out the zillion day olds while the for real day olds aged. yuck

The problem is that when the baker reveals their trade secrets it does hurt their reputation. There are enough posters here with businesses saying it. It will hurt their bottom line and their reputation. There are many many false ideas about food in general and baking in particular that a baker does not have the wherewithall to turn the tide on decades of wrong notions. It's really not that big a deal at all. I grin, and say "trade secret". Some people would never make it in the bakery business.

In another thread it is being discussed about whether to embrace a request from a potential client which can reveal something that the general public will find unsavory, like freezing baked goods. For example we all know using mixes is taboo though so many do it, they just don't tell. Hollandiase mix, cake mix whatever. Here's what I mean, I'll go first, I know a very reputable establishment that keeps a paper shredder in the office under wraps for making tortilla strips.

Well for starters in answering the question, "Honey, do I look fat in this." The truth should always be balanced with grace.

I think we should preface each post with I own or have owned a food business for profit or not. Because otherwise you only have your own limited experience. Where that's wonderful that you would admire somone for revealing non-vital information about their process but not everybody feels that way by a huge longshot. Way too many pre-conceived notions about food for it to be ok to 'tell all'.

I totally understand everyone's point of view. But it is totally none of the potential lady customer's business. There's no deceit in not telling especially if it will harm your bottom line. It's not like there's allergies involved or something. I'm not saying lie. I'm saying don't tell. Y'all haven't run a food business--the most of you--especially a bakery.

I guarantee that you will lose customers if you divulge that information. The word "freezer" is buzzkill to a bakery. It's no one's business what you do! I'm just curious as to how many have said 'tell' have owned bakeries or tried to run a food business for profit. It's absolutely polarizing to put that out in the public mind. It's ok with some people and totally not ok with others. I have a friend who advertises that way, "Always fresh never frozen" Wherein I say again that the oppostie of fresh is stale. You just don't put that information out there. Honest.

I know Ohio has some sort of "cottage industry" law that allows small amounts of food to be produced at home for sale. For farmer's markets, etc. But I don't live in Ohio (although it's only 30 minutes away) so I don't know all the details. ← It's so not standard country-wise. Not even state wide. I mean if I lived somewhere other than Shelby County, while scattering rose petals I would gleefully jump through all the hoops. "They" say that you have to be zoned commercial. I wanted to put a modular unit on the back of my property built to code. "They" said no way. My neighbors don't care. Ohio and Kentucky and Iowa at least are 'easy' states. Ohio is beautiful for this. Even if I did everything to satisfy the state of Tennessee including a college course on sanitation & food handling, (and I did not live in this county), I could not make cheesecake. They want you to be educated enough to know how to handle it but God forbid you use that education. It's beyond frustrating. And the greatest irony is that I've worked in a zillion commercial kitchens. The overall cleanliness was no where near what it should be. You are on your honor working with food. I mean if you are talking while you are preparing food enough dna gets out there for enhancing an episode of CSI. The inspector can ding you for this & that and whatever. If someplace is outrageously gross that's another issue. But so many many places have huge hazards and are just plain dirty but yet they keep a strangle hold on small timers. I'd gladly pay the fees and jump the hoops.

Fresh fruit in the tea cup is pretty cool--kinda festive. I've done that before. I mean like berries.

Another idea, like for example you can cut the shape of the state of Texas out of a square cake without any leftover as a flat cut out cake using a 14" I think it is but just an example. So for 3-d sculptures, maybe plan it different where you consider the smallest possible configuration of cake to ultimately incorporate the scraps back into the project. You can't always do that as well as the state of Texas comes out but it can help reduce the anguish and the waste. I love the ice cream sandwich idea, petite tête de chou. Rebecca, yes alcohol helps the whole leftover thing for sure! You can also make mini cakes out of it to use for samples--glue it together and stack it up and cut out squares, place in muffin cups to seve to potential clients. Or to keep out on the counter to give out samples. Or create a little crazy monster cake and drop it off at the local fire house or police department or the emergency room or pick a place. Like if you cut an oval shape out of a sheet cake, make an un-cake. Put the residue on a sheet board and ice it all up, so there's a big hole in the middle where you removed the oval to use in your project. Have fun writing an inscription in the center there. Actually, the muffin cup thing would go over better, less mess & hassle for them to just grab & go. Just some scrappy ideas

I just could not agree more.