High-Fructose Corn Syrup in unexpected places
I just discovered HFCS in my rice vinegar! The scum. My understanding of good rice vinegar is that it’s made from rice, koji, and water, and the sweetness is from the action of the koji—just as mirin, made from the same ingredients, is sweet. See this rice vinegar and this mirin, for example. I believe that the salt is added to the mirin to avoid the tax on alcohol—Wikipedia notes:
There are three general types. The first is hon mirin (lit. true mirin), which contains alcohol. The second is shio mirin, which contains alcohol as well as 1.5% salt to avoid alcohol tax. The third is shin mirin (lit. new mirin), or mirin-fu chomiryo (lit. mirin-like seasoning), which contains less than 1% alcohol yet retains the same flavour.
I once accidentally bought a “soy sauce” made from water, salt, caramel coloring, and sodium benzoate (sp?) Not sure what was in there that needed the preservative…
The Eldest
13 October 2009 at 11:11 am
Added for flavor???
LeisureGuy
13 October 2009 at 11:33 am
Rice vinegar? That’s a new one. That HFCS is in some cold medicine was one of the more surprising examples i could find, but rice vinegar is certainly up there in that category of disbelief.
Ban HFCS
13 October 2009 at 3:52 pm