We know sugar hides in many places under a surprisingly long list of aka’s. I thought I was pretty savvy to the hidden or simply unrecognized sources of sugars like dried fruits, but I was blown off my knowledge perch when I rushed into my local market, picked up a couple boxes of salt in order to make some fermented cabbage/sauerkraut. When I got down to the job, I picked up the familiar round blue box I’ve known all my life as salt, and read the label. My jaw hit my chest, there was dextrose, the most well known of sugar’s alternate names! When did they start putting sugar in salt? The claim is that it help keep things like salt free-flowing, but it is not necessary, and was not in salt until fairly recently. I usually buy sea salt, that has lots of additional minerals, though still basically just salt, which is how I suppose this sugary salt got by me, but still, sugar in salt!? Totally unnecessary.
For those of us who are very sensitive to all sugars, regardless of type, the tiny milligrams and grams add up quickly. So yet again we are reminded to read labels, all labels. I returned that sugar salt the same day, and while reading several labels was to learn that many of these salt packages contain dextrose. You have to read all food labels–EVERYTHING. Now I’m wondering how many other seemingly harmless cooking items, say baking powder, have added sugar. Time to clean the pantry and learn the ugly truth.
Yours in aggravation,
Nan aka Sugarbaby
Sugaraholics 