Why is there so much sugar in american (US) cuisine?

real_aurgathor

I’m currently eating some “Bush’s Best Country Style Baked Beans”, and it’s in thick, sugary syrup, almost to a point of disgustingly sweet. 😟

I grew up elsewhere, and while we’ve had several different dishes with beans, none of them had any sugar. Same with meat dishes – they had many different ingredients, but not sugar or any other sweetener. Sugar was used in deserts, cookies, drinks, food made with fruits, etc., but normally not much in main course meals.

So why is there so much sugar in american cuisine?

OzarkEdge

No good reason besides the obvious. It’s like backpacking tents… once one maker started using mesh panels galore and called it ‘Ultralite’… lighter than the competition… they all started doing it until now it’s hard to find a decent 4-season tent or a tent that will keep you warm (and private) on a cold night. Sweet sells no matter how it might kill you.

dave

real_aurgathor

Add ‘mass market white bread’ to the excess-sugar list.

Though I must admit that some of it toasts up nicely.

Somewhat-Reticent

Profit motive - pandering to glucose addiction is profitable. Until it isn’t.

real_aurgathor

I’m not sure if the sugar content has anything to do wit toastability.

And we didn’t have any sugar in our regular bread either.

dave

real_aurgathor

You need to have a word with our toaster! Good bread requires the dial set to ‘max’ to get a decent colour, even for white bread. Supermarket ‘italian’ bread is quite brown at half-scale. I attribute the difference to caramelization of the excess sugar.

But I too come from a place and a time where we brought bread from a baker. Even the in-house bakery at the nearby seaside restaurant, which was far from being ‘quality dining’, did a pretty decent white loaf.

Anyway - overall, I agree with the premise: too much sugar.

Donoreo

dave Add ‘mass market white bread’ to the excess-sugar list.

Sugar in bread prolongs the shelf life.

Blackbird

You could well ask the same question about salt. At one time, both sugar or salt were necessities for food preservation, so becoming used to some degree of sweetness or saltiness has always been common in human society. But somewhere along the way, especially in the US, abuse of both sugar and salt in foods has become epidemic.

GeekGirl1

A lot of private label, i.e. store brands, save cost by using high fructose corn syrup in their products.

I’ll buy the name brand even though it costs more. The quality of the ingredients matters to me.

Sparkchaser

dave Supermarket ‘italian’ bread is quite brown at half-scale. I attribute the difference to caramelization of the excess sugar.

My grandfather had an Italian bakery. My father and uncles worked there. I worked there a few summers. I don’t remember any sugar. It was very complicated, flour, water, yeast, salt and a brick oven. (there is a hell of a lot of labor though, from ingredients to loaves.)

It was DAMN GOOD 😃

EDIT: Did I mention how freakin hot it was in the summer!!!!

broknsymetry

I miss my bread machine. 🙁

Somewhat-Reticent

Sparkchaser I don’t remember any sugar.

Sugar ( as an ingredient for making bread ) was for the impatient ?

Blackbird abuse of both sugar and salt in foods has become epidemic.

Cheap is as cheap does.

dave

Sparkchaser

That’s why I put ‘italian’ in quotes. I’d suppose supermarket ‘italian’ is Italian just as much as a supermarket baguette is ‘French’.

(I visited some English friends in the south of France. They schooled me in understanding that the morning was way too soon to buy baguettes for a picnic to be held in late afternoon).

Sparkchaser

dave (I visited some English friends in the south of France. They schooled me in understanding that the morning was way too soon to buy baguettes for a picnic to be held in late afternoon).

Same for us, we had to time our visit to the market when visiting my BIL/Sil in Luxembourg. Fresh bread was put out every 2 hours.

MacLeech

real_aurgathor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans

Guy54435

MacLeech Someone missed the memo 😉

MacLeech

Guy54435 MacLeech Someone missed the memo 😉

I didn’t quote it. I posted a screenshot of it. It won’t show up in a text search. It also wasn’t a news article, it was a wiki post.

Guy54435

MacLeech I see , I did not notice, sorry I blew up, move along nothing to see here.

Somewhat-Reticent

Guy54435 blew up

Looks like a gentle nudge from here. Good example of exception.
( While not a text-copy/paste quote, image reads like one - a quibble? )
( ( Until automated character recognition becomes SOP ? ) )

HooRU

Corn sugar is heavily subsidized by the US Gov. And sugar is is to feed things to ferment or to leaven. Also it is addictive, like how some like Miricle Whip, blech!