Comments on: Trans fat update: bureaucracy + marketing = bad food.

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:27:54 +0000

Good grassfed ghee has all the same benefits as butter: vitamins, healthy fats, etc. But you can keep it indefinitely at room temperature and like you said, you can cook it at higher temperatures. Ayurvedic medicine and cooking use ghee as a centerpiece. They can’t seem to say enough good things about it.

By: kathleen

kathleen — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:21:27 +0000

Bah. I still like butter and I will continue to use it. But what about ghee? Aside from a higher cooking temp, is there any benefit to including that in the diet?

By: The Herbwife’s Kitchen » Trans fat-free industrial food is still bad food.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 00:59:52 +0000

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By: Ananda

Ananda — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:38:40 +0000

Oh sheesh. Well, I guess I won’t be having any more banana nut loafs or uncroissants. They are way overpriced anyway. I’ll jusk bake at home
Thanks for the clarification!

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:22:39 +0000

Sorry for the confusion, Ananda. The answer is both. They’re using whatever they can get their hands on that doesn’t register as trans fat — be it fully hydrogenated shortening (”trans-free margarine”) or things like palm oil. (And I don’t mind palm oil either. But in a croissant? Absurd.)

Here’s a quote from the Times article:

The Schwartz Bros. bakery has been providing Starbucks
with baked goods in the Northwest since Starbucks had
only 13 stores. Now, bakeries in Seattle and Portland
provide the pastries to about 600 Starbucks outlets.

”We’ve gone back and replaced all of the nice, good
butter with supposedly trans fat-free margarine,”
said Rick Doyle, the Schwartz regional manager. ”The
hardest one for us was the croissant. We replaced
butter with palm oil. From my perspective it’s not a
croissant any more. It’s lost all its lamination and
flavor.”

By: Ananda

Ananda — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:06:16 +0000

I’m confused. Are they going to use margarine or palm oil? I don’t think palm oil is all that bad. Margarine on the other hand I feel is very bad and I won’t eat it.
I wish the FDA would take notice of the difference between fake and natural, it seems that attidute is all to prevalent. Fake perfume, fake fingernails, fake medicines, fake food, fake lovers, fake fake fake. Grr.
Thanks for keeping us in the know!
Ananda