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

real_aurgathor · 2025-05-02T19:47:57+00:00

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?

Sparkchaser

broknsymetry Mushy peas have a higher density and therefore the GV brand of peas, if smushed, would contain a greater amount of sugar. However, I see that traditional mushy peas are never made from canned and I’ve not found an American canned version.

The Batchelors Mushy Peas on our shelf has 1g natural, 1 g added sugar per half a cup. It’s the same amount I get from the Batchelors web site.

Wife says in Ireland they would soak peas over night in water with (she thinks) baking soda.

InternetJeff

Astyanax Notice those mushy peas use those oh-so-carcinogenic dyes (that I thought every other country in the world banned but us supposedly) for “colouring”.

In the US, those artificial colors are “dead men walking”. Tick tock.

HooRU

Yes! Baking soda for soaking beans makes the shells and innards softer. ¼ tsp per pound soaked bean.

Sparkchaser

Mushy peas tonight. Here is the label. Didn’t see it the other day but it is made in Ireland. Distributed in the US by Food Ireland.

real_aurgathor

Apparently, the baked beans (“Bush’s Original”) whose pictures I posted not long ago were voted “The Best Canned Baked Beans, According to Experts”. 😞

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/best-canned-baked-beans-experts-11722576

“The answer is easy!” Keckler exclaims. “I always choose Bush’s Best Baked Beans. The brand is consistent. The beans are creamy and tender, not chalky and hard, and each can is packed with actual beans, not just sauce or syrup.” The sauce that is there, she adds, is thick enough, not too sweet, and unlike other brands, not loaded down with tomatoes or molasses.

“not too sweet”?!? 😲

WTH he’s tasting?!? Can taste buds be desensitized by too much sugar?! 🤨

However, I fully agree with the “each can is packed with actual beans, not just sauce or syrup” comment, especially after the much better tasting, but bean and meat reduced Hormel chili.

Somewhat-Reticent

real_aurgathor Can taste buds be desensitized by too much sugar?!

Yes.
That’s why vendors sell starting ’em young with “breakfast cereal”.
( Also gets a head start on pancreatic exhaustion ? ) /sardonic

DrStrange

HooRU I don’t eat canned pork and beans. Too sweet …

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