uses for corn syrup

Bughut, you may be one of the few people in the world who loves that stuff! :lol: We have huge debates here in the States about whether corn syrup is making everybody fat, since it gets used in all sorts of foods where you'd never expect it, foods that don't really need any kind of sweetener (if they're good, that is, but I guess that too is debatable).

Anyway, I have to ask: is it the clear goo labeled "light corn syrup" or "dark corn syrup"? Or, if you've gotten it down South, is it maybe cane syrup (just as calorific but at least it has some flavor)?

Whichever, you could probably use it in anything where you currently use golden syrup. The clear stuff doesn't add much flavor, though. The MOST classic use I can think of is for pecan pie -- I'm sure if you Google the term you'll get a zillion recipes. (Actually, I only found about 925,000. This recipe is one of my favorites.) Basically syrup, eggs, and nuts, baked in a pie shell. :lips:

Bughut-
You're missing a really good southern sweetener - Sorghum syrup. It is infinitely more flavorful than corn syrup. It's fairly available in the south; just be careful that a seller doesn't slip you "sorghum-flavored" corn syrup. Read the label carefully to be sure it's real sorghum.

You won't miss corm syrup once you find this! :peace:

Mike

Curiouser and curiouser. I don't know anyone who uses corn syrup straight out of the jar. For cooking, yes. But not as a sweeterner for pancakes and the like.

In Georgia, cane syrup rules. Through most of the rest of the South, sorghum, as Mike notes, is the preferred syrup---most particularly in the mountain areas. In fact, for many old timers, it they say "molassas" they mean sorghum. For regular 'lassas they'll say "blackstrap."

Best way of getting sorghum syrup is at this time of year, where the old-timey mills are at work. Sometimes a horse, but more often a mule, is hitched to the press. As he walks round and round the canes are fed into the crushing stones. Expended canes come out the back, while the juice flows into containers. These are transferred to wood-fired evaporators, and the juice boiled down to syrup.

Very similar, in fact, to boiling off maple syrup.

In this debate one should, in my opinion, distinguish between "real" corn syrup which is mostly glucose and "high fructose" corn syrup. Corn syrup, in its natural form, if you can call it that, has no fructose. High fructose corn syrup has been chemically altered to contain sugars that the human body does not easily digest. These strange sugars get converted into fat because our bodies don't know what else to do with them. But it is cheaper than real sugar, and we all know profits are more important than people.

I'll admit it, I'm no nutritional guru and this is a pretty rough and basic comment on the whole corn syrup debate.

I do remember the popcorn balls my mom made years ago, especially the ones with peanuts....

mjb.

If it's dark Karo syrup, there will be a recipe for caramel corn on the side of the bottle. It's a good recipe. If you don't like black licorice or molasses, you won't like sorghum. Just a warning. I wouldn't eat pancakes for years because my parents always bought sorghum syrup or mixed molasses into the maple syrup. Yuk!!!

Bughut, it sounds like what you are buying is an artificial Maple syrup or Pancake Syrup. You may want to look into Karo for baking, Sorghum for pancakes and waffles and Molasses/Blackstrap for a real deep rich flavor in baking.

Karo is one of the few brands, for sale near me at least, that still produces pure corn syrups without any additives. Excellent stuff.

Bughut,

Any chance you can post a picture of the labels?

ChefRay, if you can find it look for King Fischer brand, the dark is more like a molasses than a corn syrup.

Karo is always the 'starting point'. In the South we tend to call things by a brand name even if the product we are referring to isn't actually that brand. Even though it isn't produced in the South it is the brand name we are familiar with. Hence you will find many people refer to all corn syrup (no matter the brand) as Karo Syrup. Or in modern times call from the grocery store on the cell phone to ask 'Do you need light Karo or dark?’ Only to bring home a different brand.

By the way, all sodas are referred to as coke. ‘What kind of coke do you want?’ Does not mean ‘Do you want diet or regular?’

My Grandmother always called her refrigerator ‘the Frigidaire‘, even though it was a GE. And a lot of older recipes call for Oleo, mystifying the young folks who don‘t know that means margarine.

Since we are talking corn syrup, take a look at Karo so we can all be on the same page.

Karo Syrup

This is corn syrup, and not often used atop pancakes and the like. There are those that do pour it over biscuits and pancakes, (my late uncle for one) but most use it in pies and candy or savory applications like barbeque sauces and canning.

I use tons of light corn syrup to make caramel, pralines, divinity, fudge and marshmallows.

I use the dark corn syrup for pecan pie.





Now let’s talk some native pride…mine that is.

There are three brands of syrups made in Alabama that might be of interest as well.
Golden Eagle is a mixture of corn syrup and honey you can check them out here:

Golden Eagle Syrup


Then there is Alaga syrup. Alga makes a variety of Syrups both corn and cane. They even make hot sauce.

Welcome - Alaga Products, Alaga Syrup, Whitfield Foods Inc.


Up in Georgiana, my Mama’s home town, there is Carson Ann cane syrup. They carry table syrup as well as flavored ones.

Carson Ann Syrup of Georgiana, AL - Pure Ribbon Cane Syrup Maker.


I can get almost all of these at Wal-Mart. Carson Ann I might have to hunt for at Mom and Pop shops.
So Bughut, take a look, which of these products is it that is tickling your fancy? Or is that like asking a kid in a candy shop to choose just one?

When talking about making candy the variety of syrup make a difference. You can’t substitute one for the other and have the same results. That’s the science part of confectionary work that I will leave up to someone else to explain in detail if anyone wants a lesson on how different sugars work on the molecular level.

We need to know for sure what variety of syrup you have for sure before recipes can flow.

I've looked for it and have to order it every time I want it. One of the great things about restaurant suppliers is the ability to order anything you need in massive quantities.

Nothing to be embarrassed about, I currently have a jar of the fake stuff, a jar of both light and dark of the real stuff and a jar of black strap. They all have a special place and a use.

Nothing to be embarrassed about....I have bought the same brand to serve on pancakes at home, too. I can't deal with maple anything because it gives me extreme headaches when I smell it. My kids could care less about me spending $10 on a small bottle of the real stuff.

BTW, almost every time we travel south to visit my family, we eat at Waffle House. Love those hashbrowns! :) We don't have Waffle House in northern Indiana.

I'm a huge fan of Waffle House. It's by far my favorite diner and the only chain that I'm really fond of.

Smothered, covered, and chunked!

LOL first time I was in a Waffle House was in Atlanta, GA and the locals called it the awful waffle, don't know what they were talking about I was in heaven LOL.

OK just got back from the local grocery store and the only thing I could find is Karo brand Light Corn Syrup and Dark Corn Syrup right with the Maple Syrups.

Smothered, covered, chopped, chunked, diced, and capped. If I can talk the cook into it, a fried egg on top makes it all really come together.

Also, the term "Awful Waffle" is just to deter people who aren't in the know so that it's not too crowded when we want to go for breakfast at 3AM.:lol:

I have started to use it in salad dressings instead of sugar as it also adds body and helps dressing cling to greens.

I've used it in barbecue sauce in the past or in baked beans. Anymore I use cane syrup for those applications.

I would suggest you sautee the apples in the Karo or Corn Syrup instead of sugar and then make your syrup with a combination of sugar and corn syrup.

Try it in cole- slaw instead of sugar, it makes the total dressing cling to the slaw instead of watering out on bottom of bowl, and it is also not grainy like sugar.

Try some broccoli stalks, shallots, garlic, and hominy caramelized in a pan with light corn syrup and plated with the sharpest cheddar you can find. It's outstanding.