Do We Eat More Sugar Than Before?

Lounge By macevedo Updated 4 Nov 2009 , 5:18pm by 7yyrt

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macevedo Posted 3 Nov 2009 , 11:12pm
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I recently bought an old wilton yearbook from 1972. As I was looking through it i ran across icing recipes. To my surprise i found a buttercream recipe in there. I couldn't believe that the recipe from years ago from wilton only called for 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar compared to the 4 cups that are in the modern wilton books. Both the old and the new use 1 cup of shortening. I have read here and there that Americans consume more sugar now in our diet than we did years ago. I thought most if it came in the increase of soda consumption and corn syrup in food , but now i see even our cakes are sweeter than they used to be. That was a big surprise for me. I definitely want to try the old buttercream recipe and if it works i will post it. All the cakes i believe were buttercream in the yearbook and they looked much better than the modern cakes of today. They were also super smooth, like fondant. I am glad i got that yearbook. does anyone have that yearbook and tried the old style buttercream?

14 replies
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GrandmaG Posted 3 Nov 2009 , 11:31pm
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I can't imagine it would crust without enough p. sugar.

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sadsmile Posted 3 Nov 2009 , 11:49pm
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I wonder what the difference of the other ingredients are. Not the measurements but over the years how the product has changed. Maybe that is why the recipe has changed...?

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costumeczar Posted 3 Nov 2009 , 11:52pm
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I have a yearbook from 1965 and it has the same recipe, it's 1 cup shortening, 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup evaporated milk. Basically cream the shortening icon_confused.gif add the sugar, then the milk , and beat on high speed for 5 minutes.

I think that this icing doesn't crust, it's probably more soft like a meringue buttercream, but it obviously wouldn't have the same mouthfeel as a meringue!

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costumeczar Posted 3 Nov 2009 , 11:54pm
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Forgot to add that the recipe suggests to substitute half butter for some of the shortening if you want a richer buttercream.

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Spuddysmom Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:06am
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Sorry, but doesn't this recipe sound just eewww/yuck? a big ol' mouthful of lightly sweetened shortening? I can understand why it looks so smooth...

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sadsmile Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:22am
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Did it say oleo?
Which is a generic term for butter substitute or margarine.

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hilly Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:28am
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Ew, I've tried my bc after about 2 cups and it's still way too slimy at that point LOL.

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JGMB Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:35am
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Maybe my DH wasn't so off-base after all!!! Once, he tried to surprise me by baking me a cake. He ran out of powdered sugar for the frosting, so he just added more butter instead. Talk about slimy!!! It was the thought that counted, though, so I kept him icon_wink.gif

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costumeczar Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:42am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sadsmile

Did it say oleo?
Which is a generic term for butter substitute or margarine.




Nope, just said shortening.

This isn't any different than some recipes I've seen for high-ratio shortening buttercreams that are really high on the shortening and low on butter. Some of those don't even use milk, just hot water! Yuuurrrrgh...

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sadsmile Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 1:13am
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yeah that sounds yummy icon_twisted.gificon_confused.gif

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Ruth0209 Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 1:17am
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Americans eat dramatically more sugar than we used to. My mom never put as much sugar in a lot things as recipes called for so I grew up not liking super sweet foods. She used to put about 1/2 as much sugar in our Kool-aid as it said to on the package. I grew up drinking some TART Kool-aid, I can tell ya! Now I realize she probably did that because we were kind of poor, and not because it was in the best interest of my blood sugar or dental health.

When I visited Europe, I found even the bread to be less sweet than we make them in the U.S. The link below shows the increase in added sugar in food since 1983. This really is a major cause of the increase in diabetes. We need to dial down our sweet tooth.

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/sugar/sugarconsumption.html

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JGMB Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 2:13am
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Yikes!!! That chart's pretty scary, huh?

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Jen80 Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 1:06pm
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I don't add as much sugar as it says in those recipes anyway. I'm scared my mixmaster is gonna burn out. I think it might be because it's so cold here, it's just too thick.

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7yyrt Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 5:18pm
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You bet we eat more sugar than we used to; it's a lot cheaper than nutritious food, it keeps the tummy happy, and then we buy more of it.
It's added to almost everything we buy, especially high fructose corn syrup. Even ketchup is sweeter than it used to be. You could eat the darn stuff like candy.
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The cakes were less sweet and the frosting on old cakes was a lot thinner; quite often you could see the cake through it and/or it didn't cover the entire cake sides.

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