Update on Our Search for a Safe Yacon Syrup

March 2012 Update on Yacon Syrup Search

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Last week I posted about our new search for a safe yacon syrup.  I emailed at least ten companies and I have heard back from a few of them.  Unfortunately most will have to contact their supplier for additional information, they do not keep detailed information in their records.  This irks me.  I read about the traceability of food in other countries and it just frustrates me that we don’t have that option in the United States.  One is forced to call a company for additional growing, cleaning, manufacturing, processing, and packaging information and sometimes you are denied the information.  It is their choice whether to supply you with the information or not.  Also these companies are under the assumption that you cannot react to “food grade” processing aids and additives.  Do you have any idea how difficult this makes finding safe food and remaining allergic reaction free?  I’ve decided to try the yacon syrup from Nuts.com and Organic Lives.  I’m awaiting a reply from Natural Zing, they seem to be the most understanding of food allergic.  Avoid the yacon syrup from Amazon Therapeutics and Loving Earth!

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This is the email I sent to every company and their responses follow.

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I am attempting to find a yacon syrup that has had minimal processing for myself and family.

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What is used to clean the yacon?  Water or is a cleaner added/diluted with water and used?

Is it water extracted?

Is any grain alcohol, or any other alcohol added to the water during extraction?

How is the syrup filtered?  Are any processing aids used?

Are any preservatives used?

Are any processing aids used, like citric acid?

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These questions may appear rather invasive, however my family has many allergies and intolerance and we try to avoid extended illnesses from allergic reaction.  To do this, we must ask many questions about the product and also about the processing.  I hope my questioning is not too invasive.  I’ve been trying to find a safe source of yacon syrup for 6 months now.  Some of the main offenders in processing are usually citric acid, ascorbic acid, vinegar wash, vegetable washes, lactic acid, dextrose, vegetable oils, dextrin, salt that has been processed with dextrose or msg, msg, chlorine, detergents or cleaners of any kind.

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Thank you for your time and assistance.

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From Bright Earth Foods (glass bottle)

I will have to look into all these questions, and as it is from peru, that may take some time. We source the highest integrity super foods available, and I am confident that our yacon syrup will meet your needs, however I would like to be sure as you have such dietary concerns.

I am certain that there are no adulterations/additives to our yacon syrup, and I will need to find out more info on the processing. I know it is as minimally processed as possible.

I will get back to you as soon as possible.

I’ve attached our retail price list in the case we can provide other super foods that will fit your diet.

Thanks for your interest in Bright Earth Foods.

Jacob

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From Organic Lives (I’m not sure about the bottle.  I hope it’s glass.)

Thank you for your email, we are as particular as you are with our products and we do not use or support any of the ingredients listed below and certainly not any chemicals in the processing of any of our ingredients.

Here is a little overview on the general process, let us know if you have any additional questions.

First, the roots are harvested, washed with pure water, crushed and milled. All raw juices are squeezed out and then captured in tanks. At this point, the Yacon juice is also sent through mechanical filters to remove any fiber particles. Next, the Yacon juice is spilled into a vacuum evaporator to remove any excess water. This evaporation process transforms it into a thick, dark syrup. A process that is completely chemical free.

All storage vessels are stainless steel.

You are welcome if you do not like it for whatever reason we will provide you an in store credit.  (which won’t help me, they’re in Canada)

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From Nuts.com (Glass container)

It is water extracted.  No there is not (I asked about the usage of grain alcohol during extraction and the use of preservatives or processing aids like citric acid).  Nothing is added at all.

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Amazon Therapeutics

I did not hear back from this company at all.  Remember I found this information concerning their yacon:  Ingredients: Extracted in distilled water and 40% organic grain alcohol

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From Goji King (Not sure about the bottle)

Thanks very much for your interest

We are very sorry that we don’t have detailed information which you ask.  We
have forwarded your question to our supplier in Peru.  If we hear anything,
we will let you know

Best Regards

Frank

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From Natural Zing (in a plastic bottle)

Your questions are not invasive…many of our customers have food allergies so we try out best to to get them answers to all their questions.

I will contact the manufacturer of the yacon syrup and send them your questions.

As soon as I hear from them I will let you know.

Best Regards,

Stay healthy, stay beautiful!

Carla

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From Sunfood (in a plastic bottle)

Thank you for your interest in our yacon syrup! At this time we are out of stock on this product. Our procurement department is diligently working on bringing us a new supply of yacon as soon as possible. In the meantime, please let me assure you that our yacon is minimally processed with no fillers–just the yacon root filtered through clean machinery. To be clear, that means no alcohol, preservatives or processing aids.

Our yacon syrup is a great selling product and it sells out quickly. Please let me know if you’d like to be added to our newsletter emails to notify you when this and other great superfoods are in stock.

Thanks and take good care!

Kind regards,

Elyssa Paige, Client Services

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From Loving Earth (AVOID!)

Unfortunately a citric acid certified organic disinfectant is used to was the yacon before processing for food hygiene purposes.

warm regards,

Scott Fry

Smile!

I needed a good laugh and the Yipiyuk is napping.  So, I went with the next best thing, Youtube.  Nothing perks me up faster than a baby’s laugh.  I hope this compilation makes you smile!

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Interesting article on Prescription Drugs

I was just reading this article that addresses “branding diseases and selling cures.”  Thought it was interesting and wanted to share with you all.  I have many family members who are HEAVILY medicated and who always tell me to just “go take a pill” and we would be better instantly.  These same people are never healthy, always exhausted, in pain and always going to multiple doctors.  I think I’ll just stick with what I’m doing…

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I haven’t had pneumonia, bronchitis or any of my other weird ailments in almost two years, other than the occasional mishigas caused by an allergic reaction.  In those instances, I know what caused the problem.  I’m no longer depending on someone else (doctor or nurse) telling me, “We don’t know why this is happening…but take this.”  …And inevitably I would still be sick weeks later.

Quick Post: Free Shipping From Tropical Traditions

Tropical Traditions is offering free shipping now through January 30th, 11:59pm EST.  I always mark my calender with the end date as a reminder to stalk their Facebook page to see if they have any other offers that we might want.  Other offers can inlcude a certain percentage off any products or a “buy one get one free” deal on products.  I can rarely find coupons for the foods we purchase so this is how I save.  I also use cash-back shopping, but that doesn’t apply to Tropical Traditions.  I wanted to let you guys know about the free shipping deal!

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Coupon Code is 123001.

Quick Post: Activated Carbon Felt Blankets to Block Odor

I wanted to share a product that I’ve been using for almost two months with you guys.  It is an activated carbon blanket that I use to block odors.  We currently have two in our car drapped over the seats.  The initial plan was to use the blankets on our bed under the organic cotton mattress covers, but we’ve been delayed in using them.  The carpet in the bedroom needed serious cleaning/de-fuming.  I’ll write another post on the steps we took to get the smell out of the carpet and link back here later next week.  I thought we would try the blanket out in the car first.  It does help with the fumes in our car (residual perfume), though not as much as I would like.  It would probably help much more if I would turn the blankets into the seat covers but I would rather use them on the bed.  I do plan to order additional blankets, perhaps I’ll make seat covers out of those.

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A testament to their effectiveness:  We pass by “Fast food alley” on our way home from the farm every weekend and inevitably end up sick for at least four days.  I make it a point to cover the Yipiyuk and myself in a blanket to block the horrific fumes.  We stay under the blanket until the car has had a chance to air out and I have noticed a marked decrease in our allergic reactions over the weekends.  I am planning to use this material to make masks for myself and a few friends.  The masks won’t be pretty but I think they will work well.  I’m still trying to iron out the remaining details concerning the actual sewing pattern.  I hope to have a working prototype by the end of the weekend.  I may have to send the hubby to the store for supplies.  Hi, sweetie!

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Here’s the link for the Activated Carbon Blankets.  They are expensive but they do work.

Corn Free Bakery? I think not…

The blog post is not meant to offend the owners Sweet Freedom Bakery, I realize they are just going off of information given to them by their supplier, however wrong it may be.  A friend of mine on Facebook sent this link to me and suggested I check it out.  I did.  We can’t eat from here, they use grain, coconut sugar, and agave in every single thing they cook.  We would be very ill from eating here.  I was going to just move on until then I saw the words “CORN FREE” at the top of the page and two more words included in almost every recipe…”xanthan gum.”

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We all know about xanthan gum, right?  So, I called them and surmissed that they had NO idea what the xanthan gum was made of, at which point they gave me the number to their supplier.  The supplier (T.I.C. Gum) tried to explain to me how it was made but wouldn’t tell me what carbohydrate was used in the fermentation process.  You know what that means…  it’s grown on corn.  Yep, that four letter word.  They finally told me after I kept repeating the same question.  According to them there is no corn protein left so, according to textbook allergic reactions, one shouldn’t react…  my body didn’t read that particular text book and treats xanthan gum just like every other corn derivative.

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Proceed at your own risk, but keep in mind, someone allergic to peanuts would avoid xanthan gum grown on peanuts…  Why eat xanthan gum grown on corn if you’re allergic to corn?

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The Search for New Yacon Syrup is on!

I’m no longer eating the Yacon Syrup from Amazon Therapeutics.  I may be overreacting, however I found one site that listed additional ingredients in their ingredients list:

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Ingredients: Extracted in distilled water and 40% organic grain alcohol

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That was enough for me.  I’ve been having constant itching and weird ear wax.  If you’ve experience the weird earwax, then you know what I mean.  If not, then imagine your ears are perfectly fine and then over the course of a few days you notice this weird, orange build up that comes out of nowhere.  Was that too much information for you?  I’m sorry but I like to be as honest as possible.  You never know if someone else is experiencing the same thing.  This is not normal for me.  This is part of an allergic reaction.  I’ve tried a few times to stop eating the yacon syrup to see if it would go away, but I can’t.  I’m addicted to it…perhaps the addiction itself should have been a red flag.

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So, the search is on!  I would rather grow my own yacon and make the syrup myself than purchase it premade; however, it will take two years to produce a large enough yield and I would like to have something a wee bit sooner.

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I emailed Navitas Naturals and Nuts.com (formerly Nutsonline.com) about their organic yacon syrup back in November 2011.  I was happy with their responses but decided to go with the aforementioned brand instead, I don’t know why.  This is the response I received from Navitas Naturals:

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“The Yacon is washed with water only. The extraction process is done through compression and nothing is added to it at all. There are no aids used during the filtration process.  Flash pasteurization is quick exposure to high heat. The yacon syrup in not exposed to any chemicals or additives in this process. We use flash pasteurization to destroy and microbial bacteria that could potentially be dangerous.”

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Armed with the potential pitfall from Amazon Therapeutics, I decided to send both companies an additional email to make sure that no grain alcohol is used at any point of manufacturing or processing.  I expect to hear back from Navitas Naturals no later than Friday, January 27th.  I already heard back from Nuts.com and was told that they only use water to extract the yacon syrup; no grain alcohol is used at all.  I think I’m going to wait to hear from Navitas Naturals before deciding which brand I will try.  I will update you all then.

Quick Post: Articles I’m Reading Today…

Hello all!

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I wanted to share these two articles with you and I wanted to know what you all think.  The first is about McDonald’s in France.  Here’s a quote:

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‎”French cattle are all grass fed, which many argue makes them tastier. Growth hormones are illegal here and each animal has a passport showing where it was born, raised, and slaughtered, according to McDonald’s France. That’s called traceability, and we don’t yet have such a national system in place.”

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I still wouldn’t eat there, although it is apparent that corn derivatives are not used as widely elsewhere in the world as they are here.

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The second is an article about Russia and their attempt to stop US importation and sale of chicken.  Here are a few quotes from the article:

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“The move might cause poultry prices here to spike, but there was nevertheless a tinge of national pride last week when Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin told Russian poultry producers that Russia was no longer dependent on Bush legs.

“Unfortunately, among many of our partners — and above all I mean companies from the United States — we still do not see a readiness to observe our standards,” he said. “If some of our foreign suppliers do not want or are not in a position to fulfill our safety requirements, then we will use other sources.”

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‎”At issue is the chlorine bath that American companies use to disinfect chickens after slaughter. Russian health officials declared that method unsafe, and they outlawed the procedure in 2008. The European Union has long enforced a similar ban on the procedure.”

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Thoughts?

Which is it for you?

Quick Post: Experimental Cookie Recipe

I wasn’t planning to post this today but I’m exhausted and I don’t have the brain power to write another post.  We had severe weather in Alabama all through the night and I was up monitoring it and stalking my weather radio.  I think everyone in our state takes weather more seriously now.  On to today’s post…

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I wanted cookies.  I needed cookies.  I had no cookie recipe and limited ingredients…a little desperation goes a long way in my kitchen. Kristy posted this recipe to the Forum and it intrigued me.  Simple, egg-less cookies did exist, but more changes needed to be made to make them safe for us.  A few individuals tried this recipe over the holidays and had great results!  If you can eat it, then great!  If you cannot eat it, then keep reading.

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Kristy’s Eggless Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground vanilla
• 2 c. flour
• 1 or 2 Tbsp. water

Procedure:

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla, flour and water. Blend well. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees until light brown.
• They were extremely easy to make. I just mixed up all ingredients and then added additional liquid until they were the right consistency. I rolled them into little balls and then rolled the balls in sugar (or cinnamon and cardamom sugar) and then flattened them onto a cookie sheet. They were so delicious we four ate the whole batch almost before they could get cool. Mine were a little smaller than a ping pong ball and I cooked them for 8 minutes.

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Kristy’s recipe inspired me to go to Tropical Traditions and look for a cookie recipe.  Almost all of the TT recipes contained eggs.  This was the closest recipe I could find that somewhat matched what I have in the pantry.

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Tropical Tradition’s Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Coconut Cream Concentrate (heat if needed to soften)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs (at room temperature)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Beat the coconut cream, sugar eggs and vanilla together until combined. Stir in baking soda, cream of tarter and salt. Beat in the flour.
• Shape dough into balls using one tablespoon of dough per cookie.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes. The sides should be set but not browned.
• Remove from oven and let set on pan for 1-2 minutes before putting on racks to cool completely.

Makes 40 cookies.

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I lost hope.  I didn’t have the butter, sugar, and flour for Kristy’s recipe and I definitely didn’t have the flour, sugar, eggs, and cream of tartar for the TT recipe.  I gave up on cookies for about a week.  Inspiration struck on New Year’s Eve!  I sat down at my computer and said, “I’m going to make cookies tonight, dang it.”  Literally, that’s exactly what I said.  Low and behold….it worked.  I combined the two recipes, subtracted the ingredients that I couldn’t have and substituted the rest.  Without further ado (yeah I spelled that correctly) here is my ”Not-Yo-Momma’s” Cookie recipe (named by the hubby).

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These cookies are gluten free, corn free, grain free, cane sugar free, egg free, dairy free, and nut free.  Enjoy!

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Not Yo Momma’s Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup grain free flour or grain free flour #2 (minus the coconut cream)
• 3/4 cup coconut cream
• 5/8-3/4 cup yacon syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• approximately 4-5 tbsps water

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 310 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix coconut cream and yacon syrup in a separate bowl.  Combine grain free flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl.  Add small amounts of dry ingredients to cream/yacon mixture, add 1 tablespoon of water, and combine well.  Repeat until all of the dry ingredients and water are incorporated.  Mixture will be very thick.  Spoon onto cookie sheet (oil if needed) and bake for 30 minutes.  They will be done when they are light brown on the top and golden brown on the bottom.

Tip:  I left them in the oven as it cooled down to dry them out a bit more.

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Hubby Review:  ”I’m not sure you should publish this recipe.  You can go into business making those.”  A little bit later I asked him why he had this weird little smile on his face and he said, “That was some cookie…” and proceeded to beam with joy.  Sweet, sweet boy!

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