And speaking of candy corn…
…which I was—this article, which chastises us for our Halloween indulgences, purports to give better candy alternatives to substitute for worse ones.
But why bother? I figure that, once you’re into Halloween candy, you may as well have the type you want, because you’re already sunk. However, I did notice that the authors helpfully offer candy corn as the better alternative compared to something that sounds pretty nasty to me, Reese’s Pumpkin thingees:
WORST SEASONALLY THEMED CANDY: Reese’s Pumpkin
170 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 16 g sugar
MORE CALORIES AND SUGAR THAN FIVE NABISCO GINGER SNAPS!
This one should send your gimmick radar into the red zone. If it were flavored with pumpkin puree that would be one thing, but it’s not. It’s an oversized peanut butter cup shaped in a pumpkin-like mold. And what price do you pay for such fanciful novelty? Nearly two-thirds more calories than a regular Reese’s peanut butter cup. If you want to create a festive atmosphere, stick with Candy Corn and you’ll save yourself the calorie hangover.
Eat This Instead:
Brach’s Candy Corn (11)
81 calories, 0 g fat, 16 g sugar
Of course, the only people who eat only eleven pieces of candy corn are those who already hate it, although apparently their numbers are legion.
I can’t even eat Reese’s cups now, although I used to love them, because they contain peanuts and chocolate, the two main things that give me migraines. Double whammy. I had thought from the title of the pumpkin version that they had some actual pumpkin in them. But apparently not.
That’s okay. I’ve found that although pumpkins themselves are visually great, they leave a lot to be desired in the flavoring department. It’s not that the taste is so bad. It’s just that anything made with pumpkin tends to be better without the pumpkin.
Pumpkin makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and fall-like, but does it really enhance a single food? Muffins, doughnuts, candy, pie? Give me blueberry for the first, old-fashioned sour cream for the second, candy corn for the third, and almost any sort of pie but pumpkin for the fourth. Pumpkin pie is probably the only type of pie I don’t care for—I even like mince pie, so there.
Another seasonal thought: I wonder whether anyone is dressing up as Kaci Hickox for Halloween. That could be a way to scare a lot of people.
“… anything made with pumpkin tends to be better without the pumpkin”
Truer words were never spoken. even pumpkin pie is better without pumpkin. In fact, there’s a lot of squash in most canned pumpkin that people use to make short-cut pies.
Give me a sweet potato pie any day!
Ah! But pumpkin seeds now there’s the ticket! Roasted, heavily salted . . . back to childhood days when a box was a nickel at the local candy store.
Just to let you know = canned pumpkin is really Dickinson field squash. Legal permission was granted to call it pumpkin, according to what I read. It has the texture of winter squash, as you know. I cook pumpkins and find them far more preferable. The flavor is milder and more pleasant, in my opinion. The color of cooked real pumpkin is light – medium yellow, not the dark orange-brown we see in “pumpkin” products everywhere.
The main difference Neo listed between candy corn and Reese’s Pumpkin is that the Pumpkin candy has more fat. The amount of sugar is exactly the same. Much of the sugar in the candy corn is corn syrup. If you are concerned about the metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes, the Pumpkin candy is probably better for you.
In addition, there is another difference between the two that Neo didn’t mention. The Pumpkin candy has 5 g of protein whereas the candy corn has essentially no protein. Again, eating pure sugar is not better than eating a food which contains fat and protein.
“… even pumpkin pie is better without pumpkin.” I couldn’t agree more! I also agree with neo-neocon’s original sentiment. I probably don’t hate the taste of pumpkin, but every time I see it or its flavor as an added ingredient I wonder why anyone would bother. Its addition decreases the enjoyment of anything it is added to.
To each his or her own, but I am so tired of this modern trend towards calorie obsession, especially amongst grown men (and children should be oblivious to calories). I keep myself in good shape. I happen to like exercise and playing sports, but if I’m going to eat something, I’m going to eat it. In social situations I often find myself the only man drinking regular beer. There are some low carb/low calorie beers that are tolerable, but even the best is worse than a mediocre, regular calorie/carbohydrate beer. If you’re going to have a beer, have a beer. When I go to the theater to see a movie I’m going to have popcorn and I’m going to let them pour butter (or coconut oil, or whatever that stuff is) on it. That’s part of the fun!
All of our kids are thin and my wife and I have never restricted what they eat. By the same token we don’t have a lot of junk in the house (my wife’s European immigrant parents idea of a snack was an apple). But when we have a snack we have a snack; real ice cream with real fat, real chips with real oil and real salt.
And when they were of trick-or-treating age we let them get as much candy as their little, costumed hearts desired and we let them eat all of it, at whatever pace they chose. That’s part of the fun of the Holiday! We know families who make the kids sort the candy and “give some to charity” whatever that means, or make the kids turn it over to the parents who dole it out, in parentally approved portions, in the ensuing weeks.
When did we become a nation of people who fear food!
Amen, Illuminati. Calorie obsessed folks like the “eat this, not that” author of the article linked by neo have caused more obesity than they have cured with their admonitions against fat and protein.
Yeah, real pumpkin is nothing like the canned pumpkin. On my recent vacation to Germany I had four different kinds of pumpkin soup (one with apples, two with cream, one with chicken), diced pumpkin sauteed with pasta, and a pumpkin samosa–all made with fresh real pumpkin, all extremely tasty, and none of it like the “pumpkin” muffins and artificially-flavored coffee syrups we have here.
OTOH, in Germany it is illegal to put pumpkin and spices in beer, and I do like a well-made (key word) pumpkin ale. So there’s that.
When did we become a nation of people who fear food!
I don’t know about “fear” but the thing where certain foods became “sinful” started around the time all the sexual taboos went away. So now you can boff anyone anytime and anywhere in the most deviant ways and broadcast it everywhere and hey that’s cool…but if you enjoy a donut you’re a moral degenerate to be shamed.
I’m thinking the old taboos better.
I strongly suspect taste is the result of your DNA. Its genetic. I love milk and pretty much all things dairy. I still as an adult like candy corn and Reese’s peanut butter cups.
Counting calories @ Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, etc. is IMO silly, in that it contradicts the entire concept of celebration through excess.
And though it’s not my favorite, a well made pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top is just fine. On the other hand, Lima beans are disgusting 😉
Herhey’s chocolate bars, with almonds. I’ve been noshing on those for… a while. I bought full size candybars, of many kinds, for the kiddies. I hate giving kids half bars, out of deference to my own childhood memories. I understand not all can give full bars, but I can, so do. A wife would probably fix that, but… not this year! But, well… I’ve had to restock, and bolster the stocks, of those bars, twice now. Nom!
I don’t care about calories, fats, sugar, salt, none of it. Then again, it had been months since I had even had a treat. Don’t care. Nom!
Rufus T–I was raised just like you describe. My Mom loved candy and Fannie May chocolates were on the coffee table at all times from my earliest memories. My brother, sister and I are all normal weight. I was the only one who carried an extra 10-20 pounds through my parenting years, but that now is gone. When my sons were in high school (5 years difference in age), each one was disgusted by peers (at an all-boy high school) who drank sugar-free things and were clearly underweight. None of my kids have weight problems either.
Since we’re discussing candy, is it me or have others noticed that chocolate doesn’t taste nearly as good as it did when we young. Hershey bars don’t taste as chocolatey, KitKat bars taste like cardboard and there seems to be much much more paraffin in Tootsie Rolls than there used to be. I suspect that there is just much more filler than there used to be.
Pumpkin makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and fall-like, but does it really enhance a single food>
I like pumpkin pie, so I don’t see things the way you do. I would be interested in your reaction to Pumpkin Pie Soda. I tried it last year, and recommended it to a friend, who liked it as much as I did.
T,
That seems likely. I hardly ever eat candy but have come to appreciate quality dark chocolates.
Pumpkin makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and fall-like, but does it really enhance a single food? Muffins, doughnuts, candy, pie?
Muffins, yes. Doughnuts, yes. Pie, kind of (like pumpkin, but prefer sweet potato). Candy, eh, but mostly candy just seems to be in the shape of pumpkin, not flavored by it. So that ones a wash.
I will make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins tomorrow I think, and I look forward to pumpkin doughnut season all of september. Yum.
This talk of PC in foods, reminded me of an Anthony Quinn line in his last movie, “A Walk Among the Clouds”, he’s eating these fine chocolates that, for health reasons his doctor has forbidden him and, in that fine gravely voice of his, he says to the Keanu Reeves character; “I ask you, what does a doctor know of the needs of a man’s soul? Nada, nothing!”
I would be interested in your reaction to Pumpkin Pie Soda.
Oooh! I saw that in the store and couldn’t decide if I should buy it or not. I don’t drink a soda usually but it sounded interesting…
When I was a kid I put my leftover candy in a drawer to eat a little when I wanted it except my brother and his friends went in and polished off all of it.
Gringo:
My reaction to pumpkin pie soda is double ugh.
You may recall that the only soda I like is club soda, seltzer, or sparkling mineral water.
T– my Tech advisor told me a while back that Hershey’s lobbied the FDA to change the definition of chocolate so they could use PGPR instead. They were denied, so use the least amount of cocoa in order to still claim to be chocolate. See this from Wikipedia:
PGPR is used by chocolate makers to reduce their costs of raw materials. Since 2006, commercial-grade candy bars, such as those made by Hersheys and Nestlé, made an industry-wide switch to include PGPR as an ingredient – a possible indicator of a cost-saving measure by the commercial chocolate industry. Makers of PGPR such as Danisco and Palsgaard indicate PGPR can be used to replace the traditional but more expensive cocoa butter as an ingredient in chocolate. Palsgaard’s website asserts, “Cocoa butter is an expensive raw material for chocolate manufacturers. By using PALSGAARD 4150 the chocolate recipe has lower costs in terms of less cocoa butter but also gives the benefit of having less fat.”
I’m not sure about Kaci Hickox costumes, but Breitbart has an article on a “Sexy Ebola Nurse” costume.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/10/29/Sexy-Ebola-Nurse-Halloween-Costume-Hits-Online-Stores
The article also includes the less risqué “Sexy Ebola Containment Suit” costume.
Apparently these are real items.
T,
I do a lot of international work. My kids noticed that all the candy I bring from other countries is better than the US made stuff. They have become chocolate snobs. Decades ago, when I first went to Europe I was shocked by the plethora of candy vending machines, and their regular use by adults, and how most people stopped in mid-afternoon for a snack of cakes or other desserts.
Yet, as we all know, Europeans are thinner than Americans. My guess is some of this has to do with them eating “real” stuff with real sugar and real cream and real butter and real fat. It probably fills you up more so you don’t crave another snack in an hour’s time.
I agree about blueberry muffins – but have you noticed how disgusting muffins have been getting lately? They’re not bready anymore. They’re like butter sponges. I honestly don’t think we’re eating any healthier these days. We’ve dropped some bad foods from our diets, but made the good ones worse for us. I had a slice of Domino’s pizza recently – when did they start coating the crust with butter? Pizza crust isn’t supposed to be greasy. It’s not supposed to have cheese on it, or in it. And don’t get me started about the sudden universality of bacon.
Nick:
I actually can’t remember the last time I had a muffin. I think it was many years ago.
I know which ones I like, though: blueberry, bran and raisin, lemon poppyseed.
No pumpkin in Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte:
“- No pumpkin. Where’s the pumpkin? she asks in the blog.
The latte, says Passe’s email, features the “unmistakable pumpkin pie spices of fall — cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clover — but not actual pumpkin.””
Sharon W and Rufus T,
Thanks.
Milton Hersey must be rolling is his grave. They get away with this because young children, never having had the older stuff (original Hershey bars, KitKats, etc.) have no refence for comparison. Even Reese’s peanut butter cups don’t taste as good as they used to.
T-Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups are delicious! I avoid that aisle of the market in the interest of weight maintenance!
…quite a bit of the chocolate available at Trader Joes is rather good.
I prefer a square of their Belgian dark now and then with a glass of red wine.
Purely as a restorative of course.
I did notice the last kit kat I had was terrible and I used to love them. I looked on the ingredients list for halloween candy and there was PGPR!! And canned pumpkin labeled ‘100%’ pumpkin is not actually pumpkin?
So many revelations on this thread.
Trick or treat.
Or, tricks in the treats.
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