—Musings—

Transition to a Higher Quality of
Food As We Know It

The first trials of natural replacements for synthetic additives, and in squeezing out corn- and soy-based ingredients, initially texturizers, modifiers, emulsifiers, etc. have commenced in the top secret R&D Lab of Browne Crowe Bakes. Results (only the good ones) to be reported this weblog as/when/if they appear.

In the mean time—

Consider now some additions—not additives—that might increase the food value of the NOT-winkie. Making a Golden Sponge Cake that is good and good for you, are you kidding? Well, no.

Reality check: over eight decades, by means of ever-cheaper ingredients and food substitutes, necessitated by rising costs—materials and labor—and bizarre market-driven shelf-life demands, the Twinkie became mostly non-food. Along the way as well, Twinkies fans gradually became used to the unrealistically-low price of an unreal food.

So, going back to first principals, making the NOT-winkie into food (again) will demand that actual food go into it, and that customers suck up the higher price and like it.

Oat Bran Redux: A “Heart Healthy” Golden Sponge Cake?

Some readers may recall the Oat Bran craze, starting in the late 1980s. Everything was oat bran this, oat bran that, lowers yer cholesterol yadda yadda; bit annoying, really. The fractions of oats or oat bran that does the trick are soluble-fiber molecules called beta-glucan, a set of polysaccharide polymers which lends a slippery or gluey texture to oatmeal (porridge). The craze may have abated, but could there be a role for this stuff in NOT-winkies? Depends.

In order to qualify for the FDA-approved “heart health” claim, foods must contain a minimum of 0.75g beta-glucan soluble fiber per serving. For the NOT-winkie, this would mean 375mg or 3/8g per cake, which is about the amount of beta-glucan found in 7.5g of dry oatmeal (3/16 of a typical serving), or in 5g of oat bran.

Well, using 7.5g whole oat flour would just about fill the flour budget for our new Golden Sponge Cake. It is unknown what this would do to the crumb texture and appeal, but based on numerous futile attempts to make just-oats work on anything other than oatmeal or crackers—we’d probably make a totally gummy yuk.

It might be advantageous then to use a beta-glucan concentrate instead. There are products like this that could be added at only 536mg per cake to legally make those wild and crazy FDA claims.

More food additions To Be Discussed (readers encouraged to suggest)...

Beekeeping for Poets

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