These things go together well.
I was in Target today, and as I came upon the endcap where they had all their ice cream toppings, I immediately had an urge to make chocolate milk...which, conveniently enough, I could make with the very ingredient I was right in front of: Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.
Chocolately serendipity!
I should have just been the average shopper and put one of these syrups from the shelf to my cart (so that it could eventually find its way to a glass, along with cold milk. MMMM.)
No, I had to make this slightly more complicated. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup comes in three varieties: regular, lite, and no sugar added. Given these three choices, I proceeded to look at the back to see whether I could differentiate them in any way. The regular had as its main ingredient sugar, followed closely by fructose and eventually (thankfully) by cocoa. It had its share of calories, and I made a quick little cost-benefit analysis (*minutes at gym vs. glorious, oh glorious, chocolate milk.)
So, I turned my attention to the Lite version. At 50 calories, it had reasonably fewer. But if fewer calories were really what I was after, the No Sugar Added would have both beat, right?
Naturally! But the lower calorie count is off set by an intimidating list of ingredients, most of which I don't know and can't pronounce.
Out of curiousity, I decided to do a search of the ingredients when I got home.
Ingredients:water, erythritol, glycerin, cocoa, natural flavors, citric acid, xanthan gum, salt, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, caramel color, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, vanillin, artificial flavor, zinc sulfate, vitamin e acetate, niacinamide and biotin.
What the bloody hell is all this stuff?! If it's on Wikipedia, it must be true:
Erythritol - a sugar substitute, about 60%-70% as sweet as normal sugar but with no calories.
Glycerin - Wasn't this a Bush song? This is a sugar alcohol of low toxicity. MMMM low toxicity is the best kind.
Natural flavors and Artificial Flavors - Do these come in bottles or something? Could I use some Natural Flavors to spice up an otherwise dull mac n cheese?
Potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate - preservatives
Acesulfame potassium - An artificial sweetener. Who knew?!
Sucralose -- I know this one! I didn't even need to look it up first. It's the stuff that Splenda is made from...a sugar substitute.
zinc sulfate - Now, this one is interesting. Directly from Wikipedia:
An aqueous solution of zinc sulfate is claimed to be effective at removing moss from roofs. Spraying a mixture on moss will allow the wind to simply blow off the remaining debris, however it is not recommended for use on lawns as it is as effective at removing grass.
Who knows how accurate this is. Experiment time? If you see me dousing No Sugar Added Chocolate Syrup on the plants outside, it's all in the name of science!
Vitamin e acetate - A vitamin, which I'm guessing is a good thing.
Niacinamide - When I search this, it brings me to Nicotinamide, which is a vitamin, apparently, that may have anti-anxiety properties. Yay!
Biotin - Also known as Vitamin H (they go up this high?) or B7 (I love this guitar chord).
So, long story short. I took a gander at the ingredient list, and put it right back on the shelf, slowly backing away.
Of course, now I have no chocolate milk.
(Sarcasm)So, who's the big winner tonight? Mikey is! Mikey's the big winner.(/sarcasm)
1 comment:
Yeah so there are 3 varietys of chocolate syrup. lets face it, it comes from a factory and was never intended to be "good for you" or "healthy" in some way. Its like going to your local neighborhood crack dealer and asking, "hey, do you have any crack that wont kill me as quickly and wont shrink my balls as fast? Im trying to be good this week." Give me a break! You go for the original! Dont people remember that trajedy of "new Coke" versus "Coke classic"? Oh please! Its the old saying, "If it aint broke, dont fix it." That is why I protest low cal, no sugar, no taste, kill ya anyways,still has nasty stuff nobdy can pronounce, made with things we can only find on wikipedia ingredients! Quit worrying about crap people! Get the original syrup and mix it up with whole milk. Not skim, not organic, not milk from a cow that grazed freely. Mix it up cold and @#$%ing enjoy it! Life is too short! And if you dare chase it with a bottle of water that cost more per gallon the gas, I will personally kick you in the nads. I used to drink from my garden hose all the time and it tasted like rubber or the aluminum hose bib and I liked it and I am perfectly fine. OHWHAA!!! I need $6 a gallon bottled water from lake Nikigogo near the Mangocrusty mountains where only the local tribe can gather this water. Give it up people! Chemicals are here to stay!
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