What's the deal with Corn? [Archive]

Fish80

01-15-2008, 02:43 PM

Corn - does it have any nutritional value?

Or is it just a beautiful and tasty vegetable enjoyed with butter?

-EarlJam

The inside of the kernel has nutritional value. But we can't digest the outside of the kernel. So kernels that aren't chewed just pass right through (nasty).

EarlJam

01-15-2008, 02:53 PM

The inside of the kernel has nutritional value. But we can't digest the outside of the kernel. So kernels that aren't chewed just pass right through (nasty).

Actually, that was my "follow-up" question (seriously). You were ahead of me!

-EarlJam

P.S. Same with peanuts? Be sure to chew 'em?

Fish80

01-15-2008, 03:10 PM

P.S. Same with peanuts? Be sure to chew 'em?

Same deal with peanuts? Strange. Maybe we're not genetically designed to eat corn or peanuts.

I just looked at my Jif peanut butter and it has sugar and hydrogenated oils added. (I keep peanut butter in my office for hunger emergencies.) Guess I'll have to look for a peanut butter that's unadulterated. Or unfooledaround with, as those juice people say.

billybreen

01-15-2008, 03:39 PM

Actually, that was my "follow-up" question (seriously). You were ahead of me!

-EarlJam

P.S. Same with peanuts? Be sure to chew 'em?

Why would you do this to us? We just ate lunch.

EarlJam

01-15-2008, 03:51 PM

Why would you do this to us? We just ate lunch.

Sorry dude.

-EJ

Lavabe

01-15-2008, 05:14 PM

Corn is loaded w/antioxidants, for a grain. It also has bunches of niacin, but it lacks the needed amino acids needed to free it for use. If you get traditionally prepared corn products that are treated with lime (not the fruit, but rather the chemical ... CaO), the niacin can be used. It's a classic example of how culture affects our health (the corn example is usually found in a nutritional anthropology class).

Cheers,
Lavabe

Jim3k

01-15-2008, 05:22 PM

Same deal with peanuts? Strange. Maybe we're not genetically designed to eat corn or peanuts.

I just looked at my Jif peanut butter and it has sugar and hydrogenated oils added. (I keep peanut butter in my office for hunger emergencies.) Guess I'll have to look for a peanut butter that's unadulterated. Or unfooledaround with, as those juice people say.

This is a sideswipe from the Trader Joe thread. IMO, the TJ peanut butter is a major reason to shop there. I buy the crunchy salted 1 lb. jar for $1.69. There is nothing in it but peanuts and salt and it is good. That is a great price. Adams and Scudders offer the same type of pb, but not at that price. Everyone else adds sugar.

Oh, my wife likes to pour off the oil -- I'd prefer she didn't cuz I stir it back in -- but even when she does, there is never a taste problem. Good stuff at a good price. You can get smooth or unsalted, if you prefer.

Fish80

01-15-2008, 05:38 PM

This is a sideswipe from the Trader Joe thread. IMO, the TJ peanut butter is a major reason to shop there. I buy the crunchy salted 1 lb. jar for $1.69. There is nothing in it but peanuts and salt and it is good. That is a great price. Adams and Scudders offer the same type of pb, but not at that price. Everyone else adds sugar.

Oh, my wife likes to pour off the oil -- I'd prefer she didn't cuz I stir it back in -- but even when she does, there is never a taste problem. Good stuff at a good price. You can get smooth or unsalted, if you prefer.

Thanks, Jim3k. There's a Trader Joe near me, I'll have to try the pure peanut butter.

Why dump the oil? I thought peanut oil was good oil.

captmojo

01-15-2008, 10:06 PM

When did they start putting corn in Snickers bars?

devildeac

01-15-2008, 11:51 PM

colchar

01-16-2008, 02:21 AM

This thread reminds me of a riddle:

With what food do we take off the outside, cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside?

DevilAlumna

01-16-2008, 02:28 AM

And here, I was expecting a thread on the dramatic rise in the price of corn. Did you realize it's gone from about $3.25/bushel in May 2007 to over $5/bushel today? That's CRAZY for corn.

The University of Iowa predicted a US yield of around 12Billion bushels in the 2007 growing season. Whoa.

Lavabe

01-16-2008, 05:47 AM

EarlJam

01-16-2008, 10:23 AM

1. goes great with lima beans(wasn't that a thread several months ago:o ).

2. makes a GREAT chowder with potatoes, chicken, carrots and some cheddar cheese sprinkled liberally on top(my wife has a wonderful recipe)

I want that recipe! Seriously. The weather outside is looking frightful. Cooking the chowder while watching Duke tonight sounds delightful.

-EarlJam

Fish80

01-16-2008, 11:28 AM

See what the increase in the use of ethanol has done!

Cheers,
Lavabe

Ethanol is the devil!

allenmurray

01-16-2008, 11:44 AM

This is a sideswipe from the Trader Joe thread. IMO, the TJ peanut butter is a major reason to shop there. I buy the crunchy salted 1 lb. jar for $1.69. There is nothing in it but peanuts and salt and it is good. That is a great price. Adams and Scudders offer the same type of pb, but not at that price. Everyone else adds sugar.

I read this quote and then went and looked at the peanut butter jars in my house (obviously I need to get a life). The organic, nothing-but-peanuts PB I have (not Trader Joes, brand) shows that it has 1 gram of sugar per 2 tbsp serving - I guess that is what occurs naturally in peanuts. The Peter Pan shows 2 grams per 2 tbsp serving. While that is twice as much, it is still a very small amount. Small enough to make me wonder why it is added at all, or why someone would pay a premium price to get the no-sugar-aadded version. We're talking about a tiny amoung of sugar her (1/4 teaspoon).

devildeac

01-16-2008, 11:59 AM

I want that recipe! Seriously. The weather outside is looking frightful. Cooking the chowder while watching Duke tonight sounds delightful.

-EarlJam

gotcha covered, i hope by this afternoon. my wife is looking for the recipe this am and i will try to post or PM later today. if not, you'll have it for the next game.

Fish80

01-16-2008, 12:02 PM

I read this quote and then went and looked at the peanut butter jars in my house (obviously I need to get a life). The organic, nothing-but-peanuts PB I have (not Trader Joes, brand) shows that it has 1 gram of sugar per 2 tbsp serving - I guess that is what occurs naturally in peanuts. The Peter Pan shows 2 grams per 2 tbsp serving. While that is twice as much, it is still a very small amount. Small enough to make me wonder why it is added at all, or why someone would pay a premium price to get the no-sugar-aadded version. We're talking about a tiny amoung of sugar her (1/4 teaspoon).

My Jif has 3g of sugar per 2 Tbsp. Not too bad. I'm more concerned about the partially hydrogenated and fully hydrogenated oils. A.k.a. trans fat. I would pay a premium to avoid the hydrogenated stuff.

Duke4Ever32

01-16-2008, 12:04 PM

gotcha covered, i hope by this afternoon. my wife is looking for the recipe this am and i will try to post or PM later today. if not, you'll have it for the next game.

Please post the recipe here! I want it too! :)

allenmurray

01-16-2008, 01:29 PM

My Jif has 3g of sugar per 2 Tbsp. Not too bad. I'm more concerned about the partially hydrogenated and fully hydrogenated oils. A.k.a. trans fat. I would pay a premium to avoid the hydrogenated stuff.

From: http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/nutrition

Does Peanut Butter Have Partially Hydrogenated Oils?
Regular peanut butter does contain a tiny, tiny amount (far less than 1%) of partially hydrogenated oil. It keeps the oil from separating out of the peanut butter and rising to the top of the jar, makes the peanut butter creamier, and dramatically increases the shelf life of the peanut butter.

The resulting amount of trans fat in regular peanut butter is so small that, under the proposed FDA labeling guidelines for trans fats, the peanut butter labels will list 0 trans fats. The proposed FDA rule indicates that trans fat amounts of less than .5g cannot be accurately measured and will be listed on the label as 0.

Fish80

01-16-2008, 02:01 PM

From: http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/nutrition

Does Peanut Butter Have Partially Hydrogenated Oils?
Regular peanut butter does contain a tiny, tiny amount (far less than 1%) of partially hydrogenated oil. It keeps the oil from separating out of the peanut butter and rising to the top of the jar, makes the peanut butter creamier, and dramatically increases the shelf life of the peanut butter.

The resulting amount of trans fat in regular peanut butter is so small that, under the proposed FDA labeling guidelines for trans fats, the peanut butter labels will list 0 trans fats. The proposed FDA rule indicates that trans fat amounts of less than .5g cannot be accurately measured and will be listed on the label as 0.

How much trans fat is acceptable? The stuff seems so bad I'd rather not have any of it.

allenmurray

01-16-2008, 02:10 PM

How much trans fat is acceptable? The stuff seems so bad I'd rather not have any of it.

I do my best to avoid it. But when a product has so little that the manufacturer is legally entitled to say it has none that raises two questions:
1) how much work will you do for very little gain - is there an amount so small that working to avoid it is just wasted effort, and 2) Obviously there are products that have a very small amount and WE WILL NEVER KNOW that it is there, because the amount is too small to be measured.

Fish80

01-16-2008, 02:16 PM

I do my best to avoid it. But when a product has so little that the manufacturer is legally entitled to say it has none that raises two questions:
1) how much work will you do for very little gain - is there an amount so small that working to avoid it is just wasted effort, and 2) Obviously there are products that have a very small amount and WE WILL NEVER KNOW that it is there, because the amount is too small to be measured.

Good points. I just don't know how much is dangerous. Have you seen any studies on that?

And I can't be serious for too long - your second point made me remember my favorite Rumsfeldism about the known knowns and the unknown unknowns.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/quotethis/a/rumsfeldquotes.htm

allenmurray

01-16-2008, 02:37 PM

Good points. I just don't know how much is dangerous. Have you seen any studies on that?

And I can't be serious for too long - your second point made me remember my favorite Rumsfeldism about the known knowns and the unknown unknowns.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/quotethis/a/rumsfeldquotes.htm

I love that Rumsfeld quote . . .

It is about making choices - No transfat would be best, but if we are talking prepared foods avoiding them altogether is difficult. The FDA has a web site that shows the amount of transfat in a variety of products - when making comparisons (peanut butter with about .5 grams) PB looks like a pretty good choice.

Slice of pound cake 4.5
Candy Bar 3
Donut 5
Small bag potato chips 3
Small fast food french fries 8

Give me my PBJ!

http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2003/503_fats.html

Truth

01-16-2008, 03:33 PM

Personally, I find corn to be quite distasteful, whether consumed on the cob or used as an alternative energy source.

colchar

01-16-2008, 04:02 PM

Personally, I find corn to be quite distasteful, whether consumed on the cob or used as an alternative energy source.

How can anyone not enjoy corn on the cob smothered in melted butter and with a little bit of salt?

Truth

01-16-2008, 04:14 PM

How can anyone not enjoy corn on the cob smothered in melted butter and with a little bit of salt?

It just doesn't do it for me... it seems that some people utilize corn on the cob as a vehicle for eating butter and salt. I don't really enjoy butter either, but salt is good.

colchar

01-16-2008, 04:25 PM

It just doesn't do it for me... it seems that some people utilize corn on the cob as a vehicle for eating butter and salt. I don't really enjoy butter either, but salt is good.

I never use butter except on corn (unless I am baking) as I use margarine instead. And I don't salt anything except corn and french fries. But my loving corn on the cob isn't a vehicle for enjoying butter and salt, the corn itself is an essential part of the equation.

captmojo

01-17-2008, 09:26 AM

What wine goes best with peanut butter?

Up in the country, my Mother used to have a strange and different use for corncobs.

rthomas

01-17-2008, 10:17 AM

School lesson #3. Beuller....

Corn has a different photosynthetic pathway than rice. The carbon that is used in photosynthesis to make corn plants or rice plants comes from carbon dioxide in the air. The carbon in the air has either a mass of 12 or a mass of 13. The photosynthetic enzymes in corn use 12C and 13C slightly diferently than rice so that the sugar in corn and rice have slightly different ratios of 12C to 13C. We we eat corn or rice that have the different ratio of 12C to 13C and this gets incorporated into our tissues, like hair, finger nails and skin. People from the United States have finger nails, hair and skin like a corn plant becasue everything we eat has corn syrup in it. Cokes, cereal, prepackaged food is full of corn syrup. Terrorists are from countries that don't grow corn.

ivduke

01-17-2008, 10:24 AM

How can anyone not enjoy corn on the cob smothered in melted butter and with a little bit of salt?

No need for Salt and Butter for corn---when your from the Baltimore region all you need is Old bay:)

DukieInKansas

01-17-2008, 01:48 PM

We stumbled onto a corn broil in Wisconsin. Free corn on the cob, soaked in brine, and then broiled over coals. You got used the husk as a handle and had a vat of melted butter to dip the the ear in and salt shakers hanging nearby to salt the ear.

What a great day it was - thanks for reminding me.

devildeac

01-18-2008, 12:43 AM

Ethanol is the devil!

I thought EarlJam was the devil.

devildeac

01-18-2008, 12:57 AM

Please post the recipe here! I want it too! :)

a day late-sorry folks-

Ingredients:

1/4 c. reduced fat margarine
1/3 c. onion, chopped
1/3 c. celery, diced
2 tbsp shake and blend flour
1 tsp. nature's season
2 c. chicken broth, defatted
2 c. skim milk
2-3 c. chicken breast, cooked and diced
1-16 oz. pkg frozen corn
1-14 oz. can cream style corn

Preparation:

1. spoon margarine into a large saucepan. add onion and celery and heat over medium heat for about 3 minutes. sprinkle flour and nature's season over vegetables. stir well.
2. add chicken broth and skin milk. continue to stir and heat. add remaining ingredients. heat the mixture until it comes to a boil.
3. lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. makes 8-1 c. servings.

Mrs. devildeac adds cooked potatoes but beats the he!! out of me when they get added. guess you could use regular margarine or butter for a richer soup. 1% or 2% milk would also make it richer(translation: taste a bit better with a lot more fat grams and calories!). I would top this with a handful(or 3) of shredded cheddar, a sprinkle or two of freshly ground pepper and munch on with a few wheat crackers and stumble away from the dinner table completely full and satisfied. A Fat Tire Ale or a Brooklyn Brown Ale might be a nice beverage with this chowder.