Finding Corn

Several people have mentioned to me that they weren’t aware of how prevalent corn is in our daily lives. I tend to kind of brush it off and say “It’s in everything, you’d be amazed.” (Careful avoidance of pun) And really, you would be amazed if you looked at what you eat every day.

Corn is not, by definition, bad. Some cultures have been built on corn as sustenance and as a gift from the universe. Had the Native American Indians not provided the Pilgrims with the knowledge of corn and how to grow corn, the Pilgrims probably wouldn’t have survived. Corn is apparently quite adaptable and is tolerant of a wide range of soil types, which makes it a very successful plant. Interestingly, and not surprisingly knowing it’s adaptability, corn is really a grass not a vegetable. It is an incredibly versatile plant, and it is the darling of agribusiness. That’s probably when things started growing going wrong.

I won’t go into all of the stuff about how corn (organic or not) uses far more resources than it produces, and that it’s not really that great of a source of energy when you consider all of those inputs. I’ll save that for later. This time you get to hear about how we use corn – the True Epicure version (factual with a bit of cynicism).

The obvious corn products are corn (kernels), corn meal, corn flour, and corn starch. Unfortunately for me, a lot of these are used as fillers in products like hot dogs, veggie burgers, and other packaged foods. Apparently corn products are also used in reduced fat/non-fat products, probably to recreate the texture of full fat products. Imagine my surprise when I picked up some Safeway house brand non-fat yogurt last night, to find that it had corn starch in it! Reduced fat hot dogs? “Modified food starch” – usually corn in the U.S. The list goes on.

Powdered sugar, the typical baking powder, and many breakfast cereals all contain corn starch. Corn starch is used in the first two as an anti-caking agent. Most companies and home cooks use corn starch to thicken sauces and pie fillings. I’ve mentioned corn starch in medication before, but it is worth repeating again. Many vitamins or vitamin ingredients can be derived from corn as well. Unless the label says “does not contain corn”, I avoid it.

Corn is really good for making sweeteners. Corn can be broken down into lots of different molecules, and because the corn/agribusiness industry is heavily subsidized by the U.S. Federal government, corn sweeteners have become more prevalent in the U.S. than sugar. The obvious sweeteners are corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup(HFCS). Coca-Cola switched to HFCS in the 1980s, and has no plans to go back – they’re saving too much money over their formula containing cane sugar. It’s something like 1.5 a cent on each serving, but when you multiply that by the 100+ billion servings of Coke in the U.S., Coke is saving BIG Kaching.

Don’t drink soda? Check the bread in your house. Chances are, if you’ve purchased bread at a grocery store, one of these sweeteners is in the list of ingredients. It doesn’t matter what kind of bread, you’ll find it in all kinds – white, wheat, potato, you name it. It serves as a sweetener, a browning agent, and a preservative. Yeesh! Citric acid isn’t a sweetener but it often serves as a preservative in juices and baked goods. It’s corn-derived as well. Other items that contain corn syrup include: almost every barbecue sauce I’ve ever looked at (and I’ve looked at a LOT) many juices, tonic water, prepared salad dressings, ice cream, and the list goes on. I think corn syrup is the scariest use of corn, simply because of its ubiquitousness. I wonder about all the people who choose products they think are healthy, and in fact they have corn syrup in them (not to mention all kinds of other crap).

Aside from corn syrups, corn is turned into a variety of lesser known sweeteners. Among the many on the list:
fructose
glucose
dextrose/dextrin
maltose/maltodextrin
sorbitol
xylitol

all of these can be derived from other fruits or vegetables, but corn is very cheap in the U.S. (those pesky subsidies!), so they are usually derived from corn. No chewing gum or mints for me. Not even sugar free! Many “sugar-free” sweeteners (sorbitol and xylitol included) are derived from corn.

I have a bias against corn. I don’t deny it. At the same time, I’m not saying anything that isn’t true, or that the corn industry isn’t shouting from the highest towers. Go to the Corn Refiner’s Association website, and you’ll read about a lot of what I’ve said. ConAgra and others will support me as well, except for the negative bits, of course. Aside from my frustration trying to find things I can eat that fit my lifestyle, I’m really frightened by our reliance on corn and our adherence to the myth of monoculture as the great savior of our economy.

Oh yeah, and if you don’t believe me, go read Omnivore’s Dilemma (full disclosure: buy through this link and I make something like a penny). I’m 2/3 of the way through, and going strong. Michael Pollan will scare the crap out of you and give you hope, all at the same time.