Way to go, Hunt's!!

Hunt's, a ConAgra Foods brand, recently announced that they have removed high fructose corn syrup from each and every ketchup product. In their first recipe tweak in 40 years, Hunt's 100% Natural Ketchup is now made with only five simple ingredients: tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt and seasoning. Newswire reports:

"In direct response to consumer demand, Hunt's is pleased to offer ketchup sweetened with sugar and containing only five simple ingredients," said Ryan Toreson, Hunt's Ketchup brand manager. "Parents are looking for wholesome meals and ingredients they recognize—and the taste of Hunt's ketchup is something both kids and adults love. Even with the new recipe, we have maintained the same great tangy, sweet taste that Hunt's has always had and that consumers tell us they prefer."

The 100% Natural Ketchup began rolling out to major markets nationwide in mid-April and consumers can expect to find product on shelves everywhere by mid-May.

If the simplicity of ketchup ingredients has got you thinking, "Hmm... I could totally make my own ketchup!" check out KethcupRecipe.com, a site decicated to collecting ketchup recipes from around the world. Here are a few popular ones:

Low Sodium Ketchup Recipe
Picante Ketchup Recipe
Fog City Diner's Ketchup Recipe

(Thnx Lisa A. and Alissa)

mental_floss

If you aren't already reading Mental Floss Magazine, it's time to pick it up. Find a copy at your local Whole Foods, mag stand, or subscribe here. I'm serious. If you don't, you'll have to wait a pretty long time to read Maggie Koerth-Baker's findings about the origins of those noble, inbred lab mice and their first breeders that have been and continue to be paramount in furthering our scientific understanding of cancer, Parkinson's disease, and pretty much anything else you can think of - because that article is not available online without a subscription.

Another article from the most recent issue needs reading: Tree Bark Eating for Beginners, by David Clark:

For the choicest strips of bark, be sure to go for the nutritious, tender inner layer known as the cambium. (Eating the outer bark would be no more pleasant than chomping into your bookshelf.) If some resin or gum oozes out as you pry off the main course, be sure to lap it up for quick energy. Here are a few fun ways to serve tree bark:

Raw. Shred finely and chew thoroughly.

Slice it into strips and boil it to make a rustic pasta. Top with sap, dandelion greens, or insect parts (see entry #2). Alternatively, you can add the noodles to a stew.

Dry and grind into flour. The ground bark is pretty versatile and can be mixed with water into a breakfast gruel, baked into bread, added to soup for extra body, or even guzzled straight like a Pixy Stick.

Salad Season

Check out 101 awesome summer salad recipes by Mark Bittman for the New York Times. I'm really digging 10, 11, 18, 32, 38, 41... who am I kidding? They all sound wonderfully delicious and simple. Well, at least until the meat comes in at #70.

More love for beets

Martha Rose Shulman, of the NY Times, has published another yummy recipe for beets - this one with risotto. Mmmm....
View the recipe here