Unnecessary additives in products that we use all the time for chocolates, truffles & confections:

I was recently shocked when I read the label on my usual brand of unsalted butter and learned that artificial colour had been added to it. I read the label several years ago and it only had one ingredient: cream. I am not sure when the change happened, but it got me thinking about all the products that drive me crazy - like how most yogurt has unnecessary additives and I have to search through all the brands on the shelf at the grocery store until I find the only one that has all natural ingredients. So I wrote to Kitchen Daily Canada and told them that we needed to share this information. And now you can read our article here. 

Chocolate can be a real problem - for instance, chocolate bars that claim to have a "mousse" centre usually have all sorts of hydrogenated oils in them.  And major brands, like Lindt and Godiva, often will offer some of their dark chocolate bars with natural vanilla, but others in the same product line have artificial vanilla ("vanillin") added to it. So we really need to be diligent about reading labels, if we want to keep the unnatural stuff out of our diets.

If you are looking for chocolate with natural ingredients, seek out organic chocolate, or the bean-to-bar craft chocolate makers on my lists, like the American craft chocolate list or my Canadian list. My 'soy-free' chocolate list also is a good resource for chocolate producers worldwide who care about using natural ingredients. But if you don't want to buy it, you can always make chocolate from scratch at home with this recipe.

So what are some other products that we use regularly in chocolate making and baking to watch out for? Sour cream, canned coconut milk, and one other product that we use ALL THE TIME are real culprits. Find out what that other product is on Kitchen Daily Canada.