E4 MG EE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 , 2022
half its calories come from added
sugar — if you add in the 2 grams
of naturally occurring sugar, 72
percent of the calories come from
sugar.Seventy-two percent.
Right next door was a Siggi’s
adult-style “drinkable yogurt”
with actual strawberries. In its 190
calories, it has 9 grams of added
sugar, 18 grams total. That’s still
high, but 38 percent of calories
from total sugar is about half what
the kids’ version has.
Label: Garden Veggie Chips
(Sensible Portions brand)
Translation: Greenish potato
chips.
When I was a kid, my mother
had a blind friend, Mrs. Fiorino,
who laughed at people who got
chocolate shakes at McDonald’s.
“Stupid sighted people,” she used
to say. “They think if it’s brown, it’s
chocolate.”
Mrs. Fiorino would have had a
field day with vegetable chips. If
it’s green, it’s a vegetable! But
compare the nutrition facts to the
plain-old Pringles, and they’re
virtually identical.
Label: “Crafted with only clean
ingredients” [emphasis theirs] (on
Sweet Loren’s Chocolate Chunk
cookie dough)
Translation: We would like you
to forget that this is cookie dough.
[emphasis mine]
Sweet Loren’s really piles it on
with “gluten free,” “dairy free,”
“plant based” and “non-GMO.” It’s
so easy to focus on what it’s not!
But it is sugar, fat and gluten-free
flour; it’s cookie dough.
Label: “Uncured” (Applegate
beef hot dogs)
Translation: Cured.
If you come here often, you
already know that “uncured”
bacon and hot dogs are absolutely,
positively cured. Look at the fine
print (that’s the running theme
here), and you’ll see that the last
ingredient is “celery powder.” The
UNEARTHED FROM E1
Read
product
labels as
a skeptic
Test Kitchen explains. “Dark
meat has an abundant amount of
connective tissue, which dis-
solves into gelatin as the meat
cooks, rendering it juicy and
tender. The longer it cooks, the
more that connective tissue
breaks down. This means that
chicken thighs are good at an
internal temp of 175 degrees
Fahrenheit, but they’re even bet-
ter at 195.”
However, there is an upper
limit. Once dark meat chicken
hits 210 degrees, the flavor and
texture start to deteriorate. So
while you can get chicken thighs
that are safe to eat in as little as
30 or 40 minutes in the oven
(depending on the temperature),
a quick experiment at home
showed that it took over an hour
for it to reach 210 degrees (at
which point the thighs were still
edible, but definitely a little
stringy). That’s at least 20 min-
utes of wiggle room!
In a world full of distractions,
ingredients with flexibility built
in are priceless.safe to eat as chicken that has
been cooked to 165°F,” he wrote
in “The Food Lab” cookbook. The
team at Cook’s Illustrated prefers
155 degrees — “the test kitchen’s
favorite temperature for juici-
ness and tenderness,” per the
“Cook’s Science” cookbook —
where it needs to be held for only
about 50 seconds to kill salmo-
nella and be safe to consume.
“Despite government warn-
ings to be sure to cook chicken to
165°F, in reality, about 150°F or
so, muscle fibers have become
almost completely squeezed dry,”
López-Alt wrote. “Congratula-
tions, your dinner is now official-
ly cardboard.”
But the story for dark meat is a
cook’s dream. Although the
USDA’s recommended tempera-
ture at which it’s safe to consume
is the same, dark meat’s texture
is actually better at higher tem-
peratures. “Unlike chicken
breasts, chicken thighs and
drumsticks actually become
more tender the longer they
cook,” Mari Levine of America’sof a regular pack (less than
2.5 pounds) of thighs at $1.01 per
pound and of bagged quarters at
$0.73 per pound. Meanwhile, a
regular pack of boneless skinless
chicken breasts came in at a
whopping $2.64 per pound. As
food prices continue to rise,
chicken quarters and thighs are
an affordable alternative for peo-
ple on a budget.
It’s also easier to cook dark
meat so that it remains tender
and juicy. The USDA’s guidance
for the minimum internal tem-
perature — 165 degrees, at which
point harmful bacteria is killed
— surpasses the level at which
professional and highly experi-
enced home cooks prefer for
white meat.
Chef and cookbook author J.
Kenji López-Alt prefers chicken
breasts cooked to 145 degrees,
but acknowledges the texture
isn’t for everyone. “As long as
chicken stays at 150°F or higher
for at least 2.7 minutes, it is asCHICKEN QUARTERS FROM E1For the most flavor and flexibility,thighs and leg quarters save the daySCOTT SUCHMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTRemember that the primary
purpose of labels is to get you to
buy the food. Manufacturers have
a bazillion ways to make you feel
good about the food you want to
eat anyway. For the most part, the
harder they’re selling it — whole
grain! good source of vitamin C!
probiotic! — the more skeptical
you should be.
All the important stuff, the stuff
that has to be there, the stuff
where manufacturers have very
little wiggle room, is on the back,
in small print: the nutrition facts
panel and the ingredients list.
My husband, Kevin, who has
gone on all my label-hunting
expeditions with me, sums it up
this way: Don’t be a sucker.Haspel writes about food and science
and farms oysters on Cape Cod. On
Twitter: @TamarHaspel.your kids’ eye level.
Label: “Made in batches from
scratch” (Sara Lee cheesecake)
Translation: Nothing. This
means nothing.
But look at how Sara Lee is
trying to play you with “batches”
and “from scratch,” words we
associate with homemade and
wholesome.
If you want to make sense of
labels without a handy-dandy
translation tool, I’ve got one basic
rule: Ignore everything on the
front of the package, especially
adjectives. If you find that hard to
do, just think about a bunch of
corporate types sitting in a
conference room, deciding that
“Made in batches from scratch”
should be printed on the
cheesecake box, and ask yourself
whether you should be listening to
those people.salt (Back to Nature crackers)
Translation: Turn the box over!
The third ingredient (after
flour and oil) is sugar. As is the
fourth (in the form of brown rice
syrup). This isn’t a high-sugar
food; it’s only 1 gram per serving,
just like the Ritz crackers it
competes with. But ingredient
lists on the front of the box
seldom match the ones on the
back.
Label: “Filling made with
REAL CHOCOLATE!” [emphasis
theirs] (Krave cereal)
Translation: Take a deep
breath. This is a BREAKFAST
CEREAL! [emphasis mine]
Really, is REAL CHOCOLATE
the thing you want for breakfast?
If you’re a kid, the answer is:
absolutely! Which is why there’s
such a thing as chocolate
breakfast cereal, and why it’s atanything resembling fruit. Oh,
and right there above the
nutrition facts panel, in small
letters, you find “Not intended to
replace fresh fruit in the diet.”
Label: “Cheerios [fill in the
blank — Oat Crunch, Apple
Cinnamon, Pumpkin Spice, Honey
Nut, Frosted, Very Berry... ]”
Translation: Cheerios, but
sweeter.
Original Cheerios is a fine
cereal option. It’s made with
actual, genuine whole oats, and
there are only 2 grams of sugar per
serving. But every single brand
extension is just an excuse to add
sugar. Chocolate Cheerios has 11
grams, Honey Nut has 12, Oat
Crunch has 15, and so on. Don’t let
the health halo of the real thing
rub off.
Label: Three ingredients:
wheat flour, safflower oil and seareason it’s in your hot dogs is that
celery is naturally high in nitrate.
That nitrate gets converted to
nitrite and — voila! — you get the
same effect that regular, cured
bacon and hot dogs get from
regular old sodium nitrite.
But before you get really mad,
you should know that, if you cure
your hot dogs with celery powder,
you are required by law to label it
“uncured.” On second thought —
go ahead, get mad! Just make sure
to direct your anger at the U.S.
Agriculture Department.
Label: “Fruit Snacks, made
with Real Fruit!” (Welch’s brand)
Translation: Candy.
Of the 90 calories in a serving,
52 of them come from sugar —
almost all added sugar. Sure, you
get 25 percent of your daily
Vitamins A, C and E, too, but that
comes from fortification, not fromROSS MURRAY FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTSTAY SAFE AND SHOP CONTACTLESS
SCAN HERE TO SHOP CURBSIDE NOWCOVID-19 VACCINES AVAILABLE!
ASSISTED REGISTRATION
COME VISIT OUR PHARMACYPHARMACY D.C. STOREOur pharmacy is OPEN for all your
prescription and health & beauty needs.FOOD ITEMS Come Visit Our New Cafe!! !!NOW OPEN!!Email: [email protected] for orders that can be picked up curbside!BLOCKBUSTERS
Robert Hall Paso Robles Cab. ............... $10. 99
Napa Cellars PN & Zinf .................... $17. 99
SB $11.99 Chard. ....................... $13. 99
Guiliano Rosati Montepulciano. .............$6.99
Lyle Thomas PN. .......................... $10.9 9
Valderiz Roble. .............................$12.99
Black Box 3.0L Asst Types. .................. $14. 99
La Mothe Du Barry. ......................... $11. 99
Resistance CDRW ..........................$11.99
Essay Chenin Blanc .............................$8.99
Arromans Rouge ........................... $11. 99
Socius White................................. $10.99
Gouleyant Cahors Malbec ...............$11.99Dom. de la Madone Picpoul. ..............$9.9 9
Puech Cocut Cab ............................$9.99
Chat. Castagnac Bordeaux ............... $12.9 9
Generations 1905 Grenache ...............$9.99
Chat. Des Tours Brouilly .................. $16.9 9
Rivallana Res. Rioja.........................$14.99
Tinto Negro ....................................$6.99
Padrillos Malbec. .............................$7.99
Caparzo Rosso. ...............................$7.9 9
Chapoutier CDR. ...........................$10.99
Decoy SB & Chard ............................ $13. 99
Josh Cab & Merlot ............................$10.99
Intercept PN................................$16.99
Mohua SB. .................................. $10.99
Matua SB .....................................$8.99Tomtit SB. ...................................$10.9 9
Goru Verde..................................$8.99
Paxis Red & White. .............................$6.99
Craftwork Asst Types. ........................$9.99
Mussel Bay SB ............................ $10. 99
Flannery Hill SB .......................... $12.99
CHAMPAGNE & SPARKLING SALE
Joseph Perrier. .............................. $32.9 9
Pannier..................................... $29.9 9
Les Allies Rosé & Brut. ........................$9.99
Cuvée Barons Rosé & Brut. ..................$9.99
Masottina Prosecco ..........................$9.99
Caceres Brut ..................................$7.99
Segura Viudas. ............................$7.99D.C. WINE SPECIALSD.C. BEER SPECIALS*Select 6 Pack Excluded From The Sale*$
21.99$
23.99Leffe & Hoegaarden
6 Pack $9.99 ..................Case $34.99
21st Amendment, Pilsner Urquell,
Peroni, Eggenberg,
6 Pack $10.99 ................Case $34.99
Right proper, 7 locks Brewing, RAR
IPA, Lagunitas IPA, Port City, Sierra
Nevada & New Belgium, Sam Adams,
6 Pack $11.99 ................Case $39.99
Bell’s 2 Hearted IPA, Dogfish Head 60
Minute, Flying Dog Truth IPA, DC Brau,
Atlas Asst.6 Pack $12.99 ...Case $42.99
Stella, Heineken &
Amstel..................Loose Case $32.99Miller Lite, Coors Light,
MGD 24, Bud, Bud Light
24 Pack CanMichelob Ultra
24 PackCorona, Corona Light 12 Packs ...$18.99
Mahou 8.4oz 12 Pack$12.99...Case $24.99
Yuengling Suitcase Can ..........$21.9 9
Bottles. ...............................$24.99
Natural Light/Ice 30 Pack .........$20.99
Bass Ale 12 Pack. .....................$16.99
Sapporo 12 Pack ..................$15.99
—16oz Cans—
Beck’s 16oz Can ..................Case $26.99
Erdinger, Bitburger German Pils,
Köstritzer Schwarzbier,
16oz Can 4 Pack $7.99 .........Case $36.99Cider & Sparkling Seltzer
Bold Rock, 6 Pack $10.99 ...Case $36.99
Austin Ciders6 Pack $11.99...Case $39.99
Truly Sparkling Seltzer, White Claw
12 Pack ...............................$21.99FACE MASKS & HAND SANITIZER IN STOCKOur LocationsIMAGES SHOWN ARE FOR ILLUSTRATION
PURPOSES ONLY. ACTUAL PRODUCTS
MAY DIFFER - NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR
TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORSSALE DATES
03-02-22 THRU 03-08-22- 4301 Randolph Rd, Wheaton MD, 301-946-3100
- 5148 Nicholson Ln, Kensington MD, 301-881- 6253
- 5100 Wisconsin Ave, 202-363-3466
Assorted
Snack Trays
2 Oz
$3.99BATTLE
CREEK10 Oz $2.49FIJI
Water
1 L Case
$19.99
Single Fiji
Water Bottle
1 L $1.99Assorted
Whole
Bean &
Ground
Coffees
12 Oz
$8.99ANNA
Assorted Pasta Nests
1 LB $1.99
Assorted
Cheese
Wedges
6 Oz
$5.99CARIBOU COFFEEVarious Sizes
10% OFFThermophore
Heating
PadsLANTANAAssorted
Hummus
DipsExtra Virgin Olive Oil
1L $14.99Crushed Tomatoes &
Italian Whole Peeled
To matoes
28 Oz $1.99
Marinated Artichokes
6 Oz $1.49
Chef’s Cut
Roasted Peppers
12 Oz 2/$5.00
Albacore Tuna
5 Oz 2/$5.00
Pitted Black Olives
5.75 Oz 2/$5.00
Stuffed Manzanilla
Olives
5.75 Oz $1.99
To mato Paste
6 Oz 79¢FINN CRISP
Original, Caraway, &
Multigrain Thin Crisps
7 Oz $2.99