Health
Related: About this forumAmerican mom wants European M&Ms
(CNN) -- What gives M&Ms their bright colors? That depends on which country you're in.
Mars Inc. primarily uses artificial food coloring for the candy in the United States, but M&Ms derive their candy coloring from natural sources in Europe.
Now a Change.org petition begun by Renee Shutters and the Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling on Mars to stop using artificial dyes in its American M&Ms as well. As of Tuesday morning, the petition had more than 142,000 supporters.
Shutters says her son Trenton showed noticeable improvements in mood and attention span after she removed artificial coloring from his diet a few years ago. M&Ms were his favorite candy.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/07/health/mms-candy-artificial-dyes/index.html
CrispyQ
(36,446 posts)"Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price"
There was a segment in that movie about how Walmart often times has two production lines in China - one for products going to Europe with higher standards & another for product going to the US.
Profit, profit, profit!
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)I remember when the FDA banned the red ones in the US. Wankers.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)sensitive to artificial colors and flavorings that we had to really go back to basics. He did outgrow the sensitivity, but not before I had to learn how to make homemade fruit roll-ups (the lunch box treat of choice at the time) that looked as much like the real thing as humanly possible, without artificial anything.
Play-dough was a strange culprit during that period. It didn't occur to me that he could absorb the dye through his hands and it took a while before I figured out that it was a trigger. Fortunately, homemade play dough is pretty easy to make.
TlalocW
(15,379 posts)Please.
TlalocW
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)It's been 30 years . . . let me think about it and I'll do my best.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)After digging through my old recipe cards (no, I didn't really keep it but hope springs eternal . . .)
About a pound of fruit - strawberries maintain a fairly good red color - a little pomegranate juice helps; apricots keeps a brilliant yellow orange shade, peaches go sort of brownish and I never could keep a pretty yellow shade with them, so I added cranberry juice (the real stuff) to make it sort of pinkish. Raspberries and blackberries made a good mix as I recall, and I think I used purple grape juice to help the color. I never tried blueberries but I don't see why they wouldn't work. You can use frozen fruit . . . make sure you peel the apricots and peaches, of course.
About two tablespoonfuls of honey (I guess you could use sugar, too, but honey seemed to keep things flexible)
A squeeze of lemon to brighten the flavor
Puree the fruit (thaw if frozen) in an food processor, then add the honey and lemon. When it is smooth, pour it into a double boiler and simmer until it is thick and a bit goopy (you could use a saucepan, but after a bad experience with scorching I decided the double boiler was safer for me).
Line a jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet) with parchment paper or cling wrap and smear the goop on it to a thickness you like - my son preferred his thinner (like fruit leather) but I suppose you could go an eighth of an inch without any problem. Try to keep it as even as you can, because it will dry more easily.
Put it in the oven at the lowest temp you can get. If you can't get it below 200, open the door periodically. It should take between 3 and 4 hours to dry - you want it slightly tacky to the touch, not sticky.
If it dries too much, you have fruit chips - hard to chew but if you cut it up in small pieces it makes great "sucking" candy.
Take out the pan and use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter (or scissors) to cut it into strips or whatever. Keep the parchment paper on them to avoid sticking. I made rolls (at the time, they didn't make the long strips, just those cigar sized rolls) with the paper serving as the wrapper and then rolled each into a bit of cling wrap for portability. Store in a closed container in the fridge - remember, they are perishable.
Kali
(55,007 posts)Bonhomme Richard
(9,000 posts)dlwickham
(3,316 posts)Tumbulu
(6,272 posts)Neighbors give candy to kids, it is way easier said than done. Much better to remove the artificial flavored and colors.
BuddhaGirl
(3,601 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)How about sticking to plain chocolate?
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)has always tasted better to me. Been overseas a few times.