BEWARE OF YOUR APPLESAUCE……. are you kidding me?
In the ongoing “Nutrition Data Exposed Series” we explore applesauce and what you need to watch out for when giving this to your kids and/or baking with it.
There are so millions of moms around the world who give their kids applesauce thinking that this is a “healthy choice” and a wonderful food to have for lunch. This is true if you make it yourself, and this is true if you pick the right brand. Unfortunately this has become more and more difficult to find.
What could POSSIBLY be wrong with applesauce you might ask?
Golden Barrel Corn Syrup
Salient Features
Why I Love Applesauce For Healthy Baking
I LOVE using applesauce in healthy baking. Because you can eliminate using oil or butter in many recipes without sacrificing taste or moisture. You will notice that many of my recipes use applesauce to cut down on the amount of oil needed, or eliminate it all together.
It really is amazing. Using applesauce instead of butter or oil doesn’t work in all types of baking and all products. But many of them it is the magic ingredient. If you want to eat low calorie, low fat baked goods, using applesauce is a wonderful solution! Many of my healthy baking recipes use apple sauce and you would never know that there wasn’t a fat in the baked treat.
I have found that healthy muffins are wonderful to make with applesauce. Instead of using butter or oil as an example. I have made cakes, scones, breads and cupcakes using applesauce where it adds moisture and negates the need for adding FAT to your baked treat.
What Ingredient I Found In 95% of the Applesauce That Was Sold At the Stores
Not to pick on Albertsons, but I will. After preparing to bake banana bread without using oil or butter, I needed more applesauce and went to my local store. I usually ALWAYS buy the “Wild Harvest” applesauce if I don’t have time to make my own and reached for the bottle. However in doing so I glanced over and noticed how much BIGGER the other bottles of applesauce were on the shelf. They were less money too.
So I started picking up bottles of applesauce and reading labels. A past time that do often at the grocery stores. I wanted to remind myself why I had been using Wild Harvest all along.
I was SHOCKED to find that not just one, but ALL of the brands of applesauce had high fructose corn in it. Even the small containers that kids take to school, they too had high fructose corn syrup as one of their main ingredients.
What a shame. There are probably millions of moms putting applesauce in their kids lunches, or baking with applesauce to make the treat healthier and here they are eating HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! Why not just give them a candy bar!
Review The Pictures Taken From My Iphone
Have you ever put these in your kid’s school lunch?
These are the ingredients that are put inside of the applesauce.
EXAMPLE
This one has high fructose corn syrup AND corn syrup!
Which Applesauce Did NOT Have High Fructose Corn Syrup You Might Ask?
The applesauce that I always buy is the organic Wild Harvest product. This comes in small sizes for kid’s lunch boxes too. The downsize is that yes it is more expensive. You will get a smaller bottle with less apple sauce.
The good news is there are no chemicals, it is organic and yes there is no HIGH FRUCTOSE corn syrup.
#2: Another option that I found that is less expensive in a larger bottle, is a non-norganic, generic product from Albertsons. It is called the “All Natural Applesauce.” It is the applesauce with no sugar option. Be sure to look on the label to make sure you see the same product.
This month, I am starting a LOW CALORIE, LOW FAT baking series. Where I will use applesauce in the recipes instead of butter or oil. Stay tuned! Happy baking and beware of your apple sauce.
