on corn

Sara is reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. I haven't read it, but she's been telling me some of the things it says about corn. Which is what lead to this little exercise:

Last night we went to Safeway to get some sort of dessert and went about reading all the ingredients lists to find something that didn't have corn products in it. Almost everything in the candy aisle, the cookie aisle and the baked-goods area contain corn syrup. The only exceptions were some imported chocolates and cookies from Europe, and a single type of Mocha-Hot Chocolate powder.

But even if you manage to find something without corn syrup, it's next to impossible to find something that doesn't have any corn related product: corn starch, corn flour... even xanthan gum is derived from corn.

Preview: I'll be posting about two amazing ports this week. Stay tuned.

Yalumba Muscat Museum Reserve

The Australians have become famous for their work with Shiraz, but I have found they make an excellent desert wine as well. I'm not an expert on desert wines (or really any wines) but let me say this: sweet, smooth, good tasting, $14. Well, $14 for a half bottle (375ml) at Whole Foods, the Yalumba Muscat Museum Reserve is well worth the price. Of course the Penfold's Club Port is about $12 for 750ml, but sometimes you have to splurge. :)

2003 Ridge Zinfandel Essence

I picked up a half bottle of the 2003 Ridge Zinfandel Essence at Whole Foods for $30. It caught my eye as I was wasting time at the deli counter waiting for the man to slice my corned beef. (They have awesome corned beef.) It interested me because it was 100% Zinfandel. All their other zins are mostly zin, with small percentages of other varietals thrown in. So I figured this must be their best grapes.

What I did not realize until later was that it was also very sweet. A late harvest zin. Basically a dessert wine. It wasn't like Port, but it was definitely headed in that direction. So I had it with a piece of cake that Sara had made earlier in the day.

The wine was awesome. It is good that it comes in half bottles, because of the sweetness. We set out to drink, not to have an after-dinner dessert sip.

The wine itself, beyond the sugary goodness, was incredibly new world and full of fruit. That's about it. Ben liked it, and he usually doesn't go in for California wines.