Why does everyone use ready made cake mix???

[Pimptress J]

Zee saffron

Thank you for the offer, but I have a suck ass apartment, with a suck ass older than dirt, Betty Crocker musta used it oven.
Don't really have anybody to cook for right now, but I may take you up on the offer of the Saffron in a few months if you still have it.
When I move to a better less ghetto-ish place that is.

 

[BirdsWife]

Believe it or not but the most common cause for food borne ilness is time/temperature abuse... bad hygeine and poor sanitation practices help it along quite a bit though.

the GMO thing... again... remember the butterflyvs pollen example i gave... just imagine what it might do to you if you stood near that corn field.
the modifications dont mean that the bugs cant digest the plant... its much more to the extent that the plant produces chemicals to either kill the bugs or to make it self unappealing to them.
we do not know as of yet what the effects of those modifications are in the long term.
As to the carsinogenic compounds used on foods for the various purposes... atleast we know how to deal with some of them and their side effects.
also the whole gmo thing... there was a study done with rats
(ill try to find the link... if you want me to) where the rats were fed gmo corn based foods. over a span of a couple of months their stomach lining grew 30% thicker than the stomach linings of rats fed with non gmo foods.
thats not necessarily bad but i betcha its not good either.

My main objection is that untill they do some good longterm studies etc... the use of overly geneticaly modified foods should be avoided.
also... the whole pesticide thing... there are environmentaly safe alternatives available for use... unfortunately they are not quite as effective as the harmfull ones... but its all a question of benefits gained vs possible losses earned...
farmers dont really even need to use that many pesticides etc...
the US govt pays farmers to hold off on producing crops just so that the marketprices can be held at a specific comfortable level.
Any and all excess produce will usualy get buried or burned...

Even if farmers were to stop using pesticides there would still be an excess of food crops produced over the slightly greater losses incured. (in short we would still have uch more than what we need) I think i can find you some graphs and articles about that if you want...

As to the whole madcow thing... it takes an average of 18-24 months for a cow to start whowing symptoms of the disease...
the average hormone/grain fed cow in the US get slaughtered at around 16 months. its too young to show symptoms.... but i betcha some of them have the disease. (the dairy cows get killed much later on ... ergo thehigher prevalence of the disease.)
places like nevada and new mexico there have been reports of deer herds etchaving had contracted BSE after living/feeding on reclaimed bovine pastures. (I can try to find that article for you as well if you want.) so its not just the downers that have mad cow disease.

Oh and just as a point... i dont eat beef all that often and i certainly do not use milk from RBST treated cows. (rice milk is better) that hormone also makes people grow bigger too... they say it gets denatured... but those same doctors and researchers are the ones who back in the day said that steroids dont help enhance athletic performance. (of and the fact that the meat industry is funding their "research" also in no way has affected their findings.)

well thats my batch of paranoid ramblings

enjoy

Any eye-opening book for anyone who is interested in this subject is Fatal Harvest. You can buy it at Amazon or borrow it from the library. It is well worth the read.

 

[Ms_Kat]

I know this is getting awfully far off the topic, but I'll continue anyway. I'm sure those that aren't interested will skip along anyhow.

After reading the posting on GMO foods, I did read up on it a bit and I am still not convinced that they are not safe for consumption (with the exception of those not meant for consumption). The butterfly example you are talking about just doesn't cross over to humans. The corn contains a b.t. gene that makes it poisonous to insects, including the larva of the monarch butterfly. There is some concern that it will kill off butterfly larva downwind. They make no mention to the number of larva killed by excessive spraying of chemicals and blow-over from arial spraying. (Here's the link for anyone interested http://www.csa.com/hottopics/gmfood/overview.html )

As with any type of scientific advance, there is the potential for wrongful use and adverse effects. There's no such thing as a free lunch. While killing off parasitic bugs seems like a good deal, it can have drastic results.

Just south of where I live is the Kennedy Space Center (I get to see the Space Shuttle go up - it's pretty cool). Part of building up the place back in the fifties was controlling the salt water mosquito population because of the fear of various diseases (malaria mainly). The Army Corps of Engineers came up with the idea of draining their breeding grounds, an extensive series of salt water marshes. They did a good job. Mosquito population plummeted. Unfortunately, the fry (baby fish) that lived in the salt marsh then had nothing to eat and died out. This worked its way up through the food chain until it was noticed that a severe drop in the population of both local sport fishing and migratory birds had occurred. Several years ago, they began refilling the salt marshes and the birds and fish are now happily (I suppose - how do you tell if a fish is happy?) repopulating the area.

Farmers tend to not use the weaker, but environmentally friendlier, alternatives because they cost more and have to be applied more often. The effect is close to the same. In order to kill enough insects to protect the crop, they have to apply enough insecticide to cover the area. If it rains soon afterwards, the insecticide gets washed down into the rivers and ground water.

The subsidies paid by the government have little or nothing to do with the use of insecticide. Insecticide ensures that you have a good looking high quality crop; it isn't used strictly for bumping up crop production (it does increase the yield, but only marginally - insects tend to eat a little bit off of a lot of plants rather than destroy one plant completely). Much of the excess does get destroyed, but a lot of it gets sent overseas as foreign aid.

Yes, I understand that most cows do not have mad cow disease and are at very low risk for passing it along. However, my contention is that dairy cattle should not be pumped full of growth hormone and steroids so that they over produce milk and shorten their lives. Further, we should not be feeding meat of any kind to herbivorous farm animals. We damn sure don't need to put animals that are unable to walk into the food chain that we will partake of. Sure, some are down because they broke a leg and that's no big deal. However, this is not always the case.

I've never had rice milk, I use Lactaid which is soy based. My father always raised goats for milk and my brothers love it, but I can't stand it and never could. It does make good cheese though - which is basically rotten milk that is squeezed together tightly.

Oh, I do make cakes from scratch because I already have the ingredients on hand. However, if you don't cook often and don't already have them, it's a lot easier to use a mix. The results, while not as good, are also more consistent than most people get on their own.
Just a little story about cake mixes. When they first came out, all you had to do is add water. However, no one used them because the idea of using all powdered ingredients didn't make people happy. So, they took out the eggs and oil so that people would have to do a bit more work.
Also, it used to be illegal to color margarine yellow so that it looked like butter. It is naturally a sickly white color.


Hugs,




Kat

 

[Nightbird]

Okay, I just made a cake from scratch. Feel better?

Blondie can I have some?

 

[SanDguy_22]

I know this is getting awfully far off the topic, but I'll continue anyway. I'm sure those that aren't interested will skip along anyhow.

After reading the posting on GMO foods, I did read up on it a bit and I am still not convinced that they are not safe for consumption (with the exception of those not meant for consumption). The butterfly example you are talking about just doesn't cross over to humans. The corn contains a b.t. gene that makes it poisonous to insects, including the larva of the monarch butterfly. There is some concern that it will kill off butterfly larva downwind. They make no mention to the number of larva killed by excessive spraying of chemicals and blow-over from arial spraying. (Here's the link for anyone interested http://www.csa.com/hottopics/gmfood/overview.html )

As with any type of scientific advance, there is the potential for wrongful use and adverse effects. There's no such thing as a free lunch. While killing off parasitic bugs seems like a good deal, it can have drastic results.

Just south of where I live is the Kennedy Space Center (I get to see the Space Shuttle go up - it's pretty cool). Part of building up the place back in the fifties was controlling the salt water mosquito population because of the fear of various diseases (malaria mainly). The Army Corps of Engineers came up with the idea of draining their breeding grounds, an extensive series of salt water marshes. They did a good job. Mosquito population plummeted. Unfortunately, the fry (baby fish) that lived in the salt marsh then had nothing to eat and died out. This worked its way up through the food chain until it was noticed that a severe drop in the population of both local sport fishing and migratory birds had occurred. Several years ago, they began refilling the salt marshes and the birds and fish are now happily (I suppose - how do you tell if a fish is happy?) repopulating the area.

Farmers tend to not use the weaker, but environmentally friendlier, alternatives because they cost more and have to be applied more often. The effect is close to the same. In order to kill enough insects to protect the crop, they have to apply enough insecticide to cover the area. If it rains soon afterwards, the insecticide gets washed down into the rivers and ground water.

The subsidies paid by the government have little or nothing to do with the use of insecticide. Insecticide ensures that you have a good looking high quality crop; it isn't used strictly for bumping up crop production (it does increase the yield, but only marginally - insects tend to eat a little bit off of a lot of plants rather than destroy one plant completely). Much of the excess does get destroyed, but a lot of it gets sent overseas as foreign aid.

Yes, I understand that most cows do not have mad cow disease and are at very low risk for passing it along. However, my contention is that dairy cattle should not be pumped full of growth hormone and steroids so that they over produce milk and shorten their lives. Further, we should not be feeding meat of any kind to herbivorous farm animals. We damn sure don't need to put animals that are unable to walk into the food chain that we will partake of. Sure, some are down because they broke a leg and that's no big deal. However, this is not always the case.

I've never had rice milk, I use Lactaid which is soy based. My father always raised goats for milk and my brothers love it, but I can't stand it and never could. It does make good cheese though - which is basically rotten milk that is squeezed together tightly.

Oh, I do make cakes from scratch because I already have the ingredients on hand. However, if you don't cook often and don't already have them, it's a lot easier to use a mix. The results, while not as good, are also more consistent than most people get on their own.
Just a little story about cake mixes. When they first came out, all you had to do is add water. However, no one used them because the idea of using all powdered ingredients didn't make people happy. So, they took out the eggs and oil so that people would have to do a bit more work.
Also, it used to be illegal to color margarine yellow so that it looked like butter. It is naturally a sickly white color.


Hugs,




Kat

My point with the butterfly example was that... modifying plants in such ways... there is no telling what the long term effects are on people... ergo more research is needed.
then i remember an article about a lady who died from an allergic reaction after eating some taco shells containing gmo corn flour.. the gmo corn was supposedly accidentaly brought to the tacoshell manufacturer. (i can try to find the article on that...)

hence more research is needed.
also how would you suppose going about fixin various supply line problems where such accidents can occur???
or how would you go about trying to prevent crop crosspolination???
using single rotation crops would raise prices too high and weaken the US markets... also due the dislike of gmo products in the rest of the world the US would lose a huge market for using such crops.


secondly... I never connected the use of insecticide with government subsidies...
I merely made the point that crop yelds would be slightly lower if
insecticides were not used and the govt would have to pay less to the farmers dumping their crops.
the reason the govt want farmers to dump excess crops is so that the market prices for that given product would not fall too low.

thirdly... the last time i checked lactaid was not made out of soy...
it was milk treated with certain types of bacteria which eat the milk sugar.. ie lactose making it edible for some lactose intolerant people. (so unless they have a lactaid brand soy milk you are mistaken.)

as to your cheese comment...
cheese if coagulated milk proteins emulsified with fats from milk...
so i would not go saying its rotten milk squeezed tightly together... the compression process merely helps along the extraction of excess fluid from the product.
then there are fresh cheeses... which have not gone trough the aging process and thus can not be refered to as being rotten.
also... most american cheese is not a milk based natural product...
it more closely resembles plastic... and i doubt that its all that biodegradable or healthy to begin with. (tastes bad too).

also...
when margarine during some of the first steps of margarine production... before the oils get purified.. its actualy a greasy brownish black color... and its smell is horendeous to say the least. then it get filtered etc and hydrogenated... colors, fragraces and flavorants are added... voila margarine.

the cake mix thing... they actualy left all of that dry egg stuff in there.. it was cheaper to just print up a new box with the "just add egg/milk" text on it to satisfy average home cook and her worries on adequate nutrition. (that was back in the day... when they had tons and tons of the pre mixed stuff in storage... they propably have changed the recipes for them over the past couple of decades.)

just making corrections

 

[SanDguy_22]

Any eye-opening book for anyone who is interested in this subject is Fatal Harvest. You can buy it at Amazon or borrow it from the library. It is well worth the read.

try "fast food nation".

 

[midwestyankee]

try "fast food nation".

I second this. Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a terrific book. He digs deep into the heart of how our country eats and where the food comes from. You will never look at a french fry, a hamburger, or even a piece of fried chicken the same way again.

 

[SanDguy_22]

I second this. Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a terrific book. He digs deep into the heart of how our country eats and where the food comes from. You will never look at a french fry, a hamburger, or even a piece of fried chicken the same way again.

the guy did so much research etc on the issues he writes about that none of the companies have ever even tried to refute any of his claims... i doubt that any of them ever will.

Its kind of creepy.

the weird shit that goes around in this country.. its not even funny.. but it still is..

kind of like that dominos delivery guy who can drive up all the way to the steel door of cheyene mountain to drop off his pizzas...
where as an average person would propably get shot 2 stept after the "no trespassing.. lethal force will be aplied" sign.

 

[sheath]

*creeping in with a smile*

This thread is awesome. I'm learning SO much. And it's cool to see debates that are actually debates, not flaming and name-calling. I'm having a great time reading it.

*creeping back out...*

S.

 

[midwestyankee]

the guy did so much research etc on the issues he writes about that none of the companies have ever even tried to refute any of his claims... i doubt that any of them ever will.

Its kind of creepy.

the weird shit that goes around in this country.. its not even funny.. but it still is..

kind of like that dominos delivery guy who can drive up all the way to the steel door of cheyene mountain to drop off his pizzas...
where as an average person would propably get shot 2 stept after the "no trespassing.. lethal force will be aplied" sign.

I found his statistics on the prevalence of e coli in our everyday lives to be absolutely scary.

 

[SlickTony]

xeros_girl, here's that sugar cookie recipe, it's really simple:

1 lb. (4 sticks) real butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and sugars together and then work in the flour. I make up the cookies the old fashioned sugar-cookie way, i.e., make little balls which I roll in sugar and then place on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten out. Some people like to use cookie molds but I've never had the patience to fool with them. Bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Yields dozens and dozens of cookies, depending on what size you make them. If you put in just a little bit more flour, you can make them tough enough to mail.

Whatever you do, don't substitute margarine for the butter.

 

[xeros_girl]

Thanks so much. They sound delicious. I can't wait to make them. Oh and trust me I don't even know the meaning of margarine.

 

[SanDguy_22]

I found his statistics on the prevalence of e coli in our everyday lives to be absolutely scary.

i liked the story about mr potato ... and his gigantic warehouses for them..

 

[SanDguy_22]

Thanks so much. They sound delicious. I can't wait to make them. Oh and trust me I don't even know the meaning of margarine.

"Eexelent" ...

you know what they say... "transfatty acids... they are a man's best friend"... not really but just to make the joke about that...

also its kind of funny when my post is right below yours...
it kind of makes it seem like your cat is terrified of mine.

 

[SanDguy_22]

*creeping in with a smile*

This thread is awesome. I'm learning SO much. And it's cool to see debates that are actually debates, not flaming and name-calling. I'm having a great time reading it.

*creeping back out...*

S.

thank you ... we do try...

 

[xeros_girl]

"Eexelent" ...

you know what they say... "transfatty acids... they are a man's best friend"... not really but just to make the joke about that...

also its kind of funny when my post is right below yours...
it kind of makes it seem like your cat is terrified of mine.

She looks like she wants to play to me. Besides my kitty is tough and isn't a fraidy cat.

 

[Pimptress J]

the guy did so much research etc on the issues he writes about that none of the companies have ever even tried to refute any of his claims... i doubt that any of them ever will.

Its kind of creepy.

the weird shit that goes around in this country.. its not even funny.. but it still is..

kind of like that dominos delivery guy who can drive up all the way to the steel door of cheyene mountain to drop off his pizzas...
where as an average person would propably get shot 2 stept after the "no trespassing.. lethal force will be aplied" sign.

That is a totally fabricated story. I live in Colorado Springs, and when that story first started making the internet rounds, I asked a good friend of mine's father, who was a full bird colonel, in charge of something cool at Norad, he said " There is no way in hell that a pizza boy could get all the way up to the blast doors"
Why you might ask? Read here -
Cheyene Mountain
The blast doors are located inside the mountain.

 

[SanDguy_22]

That is a totally fabricated story. I live in Colorado Springs, and when that story first started making the internet rounds, I asked a good friend of mine's father, who was a full bird colonel, in charge of something cool at Norad, he said " There is no way in hell that a pizza boy could get all the way up to the blast doors"
Why you might ask? Read here -
Cheyene Mountain
The blast doors are located inside the mountain.

well... all i can tell ya is that the introductory paragraph has that story in it...

as to the whole blast doors thing... i remembered that incorrectly since he refered to those like 2 line before the delivery route definition.
ill do a nice little quote for ya from the book.
"Almost every night a Domino's deliveryman winds his way up the lonely Cheyene mountain Road, past the ominous deadly force authorized signs, past the security check point at the entrance of the base, driving toward the heavily guarded North Portal, tucked behind chain link and barbed wire. Near the spot where the road heads straight in to the mountainside, the deliveryman drops off his pizzas and collects his tips." E Schlosser, Fast Food Nation.

Aparently the boys in the mountain often send someone to pick up burger kind food from the nearby fort Carson.

just to further kind of debunk the military installation "security" myth... here in san diego if you know of a person who works at one of the bases... you only need to go up to the gate sign in and say that you are going to see such and such at building what not. your information will be checked then you will be let in.
After this you can go to the on base gas station to get ridiculously cheap gasoline.
this will work as long as you dont have a foreign accent or look like an ethnic minority.

by the way.. you wouldnt hapen to have the information from that link at any other source... i dont particularly like to install weird "security certificates" on my computer.

 

[Pimptress J]

As I have not read that book, and I have no urge to, but have heard those rumors, I asked what I believe to be a reputable source, and I very highly doubt that they would let a Dime-a-hoes delivery person get that close, especailly now with as tight as security is right now. I used to be able to just drive right onto Ft. Cartoon, occasionally they would do random ID checks, the same with the Air Force Academy. While I wouldn't doubt that something along those lines used to happen, back when they did limited tours of the facility, I am highly doubtful that this is a regular occurence nowadays.


Be that as it may, yeah, I am sure that the boys sneak down to base or into town (it's really not that far from there to town) for eats.

Here is the paragraph that I was directing you to -

"The main entrance to the complex is approximately one-third of a mile from the North Portal via a tunnel which leads to a pair of steel Blast Doors each weighing 25 tons. Behind the 25-ton blast doors is a steel building complex built within a 4.5 acre grid of excavated chambers and tunnels and surrounded by 2,000 feet of granite. The main excavation consists of three chambers 45 feet wide, 60 feet high, and 588 feet long, intersected by four chambers 32 feet wide, 56 feet high and 335 feet long. Fifteen buildings, freestanding without contact with the rock walls or roofs and joined by flexible vestibule connections, make up the inner complex. Twelve of these buildings are three stories tall; the others are one and two stories."

PS- you don't have to install anything, the security certificates are just a bit odd, as it is a military run website.
They updated their security precautions after someone tried to crack the site, along with a few other prominent g'vment sites.

 

[SanDguy_22]

As I have not read that book, and I have no urge to, but have heard those rumors, I asked what I believe to be a reputable source, and I very highly doubt that they would let a Dime-a-hoes delivery person get that close, especailly now with as tight as security is right now. I used to be able to just drive right onto Ft. Cartoon, occasionally they would do random ID checks, the same with the Air Force Academy. While I wouldn't doubt that something along those lines used to happen, back when they did limited tours of the facility, I am highly doubtful that this is a regular occurence nowadays.


Be that as it may, yeah, I am sure that the boys sneak down to base or into town (it's really not that far from there to town) for eats.

Here is the paragraph that I was directing you to -

"The main entrance to the complex is approximately one-third of a mile from the North Portal via a tunnel which leads to a pair of steel Blast Doors each weighing 25 tons. Behind the 25-ton blast doors is a steel building complex built within a 4.5 acre grid of excavated chambers and tunnels and surrounded by 2,000 feet of granite. The main excavation consists of three chambers 45 feet wide, 60 feet high, and 588 feet long, intersected by four chambers 32 feet wide, 56 feet high and 335 feet long. Fifteen buildings, freestanding without contact with the rock walls or roofs and joined by flexible vestibule connections, make up the inner complex. Twelve of these buildings are three stories tall; the others are one and two stories."

PS- you don't have to install anything, the security certificates are just a bit odd, as it is a military run website.
They updated their security precautions after someone tried to crack the site, along with a few other prominent g'vment sites.

im sure that these days they propably wouldnt let a pizza delivery guy beyond the first set of gates... unless it has been the same guy for years.
But still... back in the day who knows... from what i hear their cafeteria food used to be really crappy.

But even these days its still possible to get on base to buy some gas via the method i just described... they do make some rudamentary ID checks... but usualy they let people trought if they seem to know their way around the base.

 

[Pimptress J]

Very true, but I have no urge to go on any of the bases around here. I used to when I was younger, and believed in fairytales.
But that ended, rather quickly. Did you know that there is no such thing as a knight in shining armor that will come and rescue you from everything? That shit fucked me up to learn that!

 

[Ms_Kat]

Sorry, I was using Lactaid more as a generic term for milk replacement products (kinda like every copy machine is a Xerox and every facial tissue is a Kleenex). So, yes, I do drink soy milk, and use it in cooking. You are right about the Lactaid, though, and I should be more careful with how I reference it.

I'm sure margarine goes through a lot of processing before it gets to the store shelf. Here's an interesting article about the legislative problems faced by margarine producers: http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=5043 . It starts out as some sort of oil, so you're probably right about it being a greasy black at some point. I was referring to the color of the finished product.

The food allergy story for GMO, to me, highlights a need to be careful with it. It does not seem to be a good argument to discontinue all use. We have been altering the genetics of plants for thousands of years. Of course I agree that it should be tested, just as with any other product. However, I think there is a lot more problems with chemically produced foods but we've just come to accept the risks of taking several hundred chemicals into our bodies. Food allergies are one reason why they don't add peanut genes to food products.

An example is that around here (Florida) there is concern about the high levels of mercury in the groundwater. In fact, the mercury is so high in the St. John's river that pregnant women are advised not to eat fish from there at all and all others are advised to limit their intake to one fish per month. Wonder where the mercury came from? It could be a very strange conincidence, but mercury nitrate is used to treat orange groves for certain fruit molds.

You are slightly wrong about the way that agricultural subisidies work. The government sets minimum prices for agricultural comodities, which prevents cheaper imports from gaining "unfair" entry. This leads to increased production of commodities in order to cash in on artificially higher prices. This, in turn, results in over-production, which would cause the price to drop, but that is prevented by the price floors. In order to guarantee the prices, the government is the "buyer of last resort", meaning that they directly purchase a large amount of commodities on a regular basis. Some of this is sold back to the market during the winter, when prices naturally rise because of shortages. Some is sent as foreign aid and the rest is either stockpiled (for whatever amount of time it is possible to do so) or destroyed. Since you benefit more as you produce more, the greatest benefactors are the very large agri-businesses (like Monsanto and Archer Daniels).

There are some other programs that pay farmers directly for growing "non-cash ground covering crops."

To make cheese, you add specific bacteria in order to make a specific type of milk. There is a big difference between real cheese and artificial cheese (big surprise, right?). Artificial cheese (usually listed as being "cheese foods" or "cheese products" on labels) is the plastic type stuff. It has the advantage of being cheap to make, easy to work with, and it has a very long shelf life. It doesn't taste nearly the same, though. Real cheeses start with whole milk and take advantage of the curdling process to produce milk curds. This is basically the same thing as letting the milk set on the counter until it gets chunky. Those chunks are the beginning of cheese. Add a few specific bateria, give it some time, and you have cheese. The moisture is removed in order to control the acid level of the cheese because various bateria have different tolerances for acidity. You can learn more about the process here: http://www.efr.hw.ac.uk/SDA/cheese2.html .
This is also a good article: http://staging.fineliving.com/fine/essentials/article/0,1663,FINE_4459_1933493,00.html .

You can also make your own fresh cheese from active yogurt by wrapping it in cheese cloth and letting the moisture drip from it as it dries. If my memory is correct, a day is good, two days is better. It's a fun thing to do with the kids once in a while. The cheese really doesn't have much taste (reminds me of mozarella). You can also order kits to make your own cheese from here: http://www.cheesemaking.com/ .



Hugs,



Kat

 

[Nightbird]

I found this News article this morning.

Genetically Modified Foods: a primer

I figured some of you might be interested in reading it so heres the link.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/genetics_modification/index.html

Oh and remember to empty your PM boxes.

 

[SanDguy_22]

Sorry, I was using Lactaid more as a generic term for milk replacement products (kinda like every copy machine is a Xerox and every facial tissue is a Kleenex). So, yes, I do drink soy milk, and use it in cooking. You are right about the Lactaid, though, and I should be more careful with how I reference it.

I'm sure margarine goes through a lot of processing before it gets to the store shelf. Here's an interesting article about the legislative problems faced by margarine producers: http://www.fee.org/vnews.php?nid=5043 . It starts out as some sort of oil, so you're probably right about it being a greasy black at some point. I was referring to the color of the finished product.

The food allergy story for GMO, to me, highlights a need to be careful with it. It does not seem to be a good argument to discontinue all use. We have been altering the genetics of plants for thousands of years. Of course I agree that it should be tested, just as with any other product. However, I think there is a lot more problems with chemically produced foods but we've just come to accept the risks of taking several hundred chemicals into our bodies. Food allergies are one reason why they don't add peanut genes to food products.

An example is that around here (Florida) there is concern about the high levels of mercury in the groundwater. In fact, the mercury is so high in the St. John's river that pregnant women are advised not to eat fish from there at all and all others are advised to limit their intake to one fish per month. Wonder where the mercury came from? It could be a very strange conincidence, but mercury nitrate is used to treat orange groves for certain fruit molds.

You are slightly wrong about the way that agricultural subisidies work. The government sets minimum prices for agricultural comodities, which prevents cheaper imports from gaining "unfair" entry. This leads to increased production of commodities in order to cash in on artificially higher prices. This, in turn, results in over-production, which would cause the price to drop, but that is prevented by the price floors. In order to guarantee the prices, the government is the "buyer of last resort", meaning that they directly purchase a large amount of commodities on a regular basis. Some of this is sold back to the market during the winter, when prices naturally rise because of shortages. Some is sent as foreign aid and the rest is either stockpiled (for whatever amount of time it is possible to do so) or destroyed. Since you benefit more as you produce more, the greatest benefactors are the very large agri-businesses (like Monsanto and Archer Daniels).

There are some other programs that pay farmers directly for growing "non-cash ground covering crops."

To make cheese, you add specific bacteria in order to make a specific type of milk. There is a big difference between real cheese and artificial cheese (big surprise, right?). Artificial cheese (usually listed as being "cheese foods" or "cheese products" on labels) is the plastic type stuff. It has the advantage of being cheap to make, easy to work with, and it has a very long shelf life. It doesn't taste nearly the same, though. Real cheeses start with whole milk and take advantage of the curdling process to produce milk curds. This is basically the same thing as letting the milk set on the counter until it gets chunky. Those chunks are the beginning of cheese. Add a few specific bateria, give it some time, and you have cheese. The moisture is removed in order to control the acid level of the cheese because various bateria have different tolerances for acidity. You can learn more about the process here: http://www.efr.hw.ac.uk/SDA/cheese2.html .
This is also a good article: http://staging.fineliving.com/fine/essentials/article/0,1663,FINE_4459_1933493,00.html .

You can also make your own fresh cheese from active yogurt by wrapping it in cheese cloth and letting the moisture drip from it as it dries. If my memory is correct, a day is good, two days is better. It's a fun thing to do with the kids once in a while. The cheese really doesn't have much taste (reminds me of mozarella). You can also order kits to make your own cheese from here: http://www.cheesemaking.com/ .



Hugs,



Kat

just on the cheese...
when processing the stuff some acid is added to the milk to enhance the curdling process.
the process begins by heating the milk. At this stage the milk proteins will being to coagulate and separate from the whey...
after this the stuff is left to separate for a set amount of time... varies by the cheese. When the cheese is separated enough it will be placed in a a filter of one sort or an other... cheese cloth, a very dence wire colander type type aparatus...
Then the curd get processed a set amount if whey is let removed to make the types of cheese desired. After this the various bacterial etc. cultures are added for aging if desired.

if you want to make some fresh mascarpone for your self...
get a half gallon jug of heavy manufacturing cream from smart and final... etc semi professional restaurant suply/food retail store.
Bring the cream to right below boiling and add about 1 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice to it mix it in. turn off heat and let stand for a couple of hours... laet the curds form on top...
pour it trough a couple pf layers of cheese cloth in a collander and wrap it up. place a weight on it... i found that salad plates work pretty well... put it in your refrigerator with the collander placed in a bowl to catch the excess liquid.
within 24-48 hours you should have a couple of pounds worth of mascarpone cheese. worth about $20 at the store but you spent like $5 on it...
after this its... pastaprimavera time, tiramisu time etc etc etc... ya know all of the good stuff.

 

[SanDguy_22]

I found this News article this morning.

Genetically Modified Foods: a primer

I figured some of you might be interested in reading it so heres the link.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/genetics_modification/index.html

Oh and remember to empty your PM boxes.

did you know that ovaltine has gmo corn in it..