Amber Altomare Q1 Benchmark

Ingredients:

2 cups of Flour

2 Teaspoons cinnamon

1 Teaspoon baking soda

1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

3 Large Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

3 Cups of Pureed Pumpkin

 

Cooking Tools:

Measuring Cup

Teaspoon

Sifter (helpful but not required)

Large Mixing Bowl

9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan ( multiple smaller ones would suffice ) 

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. 

Combine the flour mixture and sugar mixture.

Mix well 

Coat not non-stick pans with butter and flour

Bake for an hour and 5 minutes.

Let cool for 15 minutes. 

 

How to Puree Pumpkins

Preheat the oven to 350°

Obtain a medium sized pumpkin

Quarter the pumpkin

Bake for 45 minutes

The skin should look shriveled (this makes it easy to pull off) 

Pull the skin off and put in a blender or food processor

If you are using a blender,  add a bit of water

You now have pureed pumpkin!

 

How to sift

To sift, either use a sifter or you could lay out a piece of wax paper and slowly release the flour and sprinkle other ingredients as you go along. You basically just want a flour mixture that isn't thickly packed.  

 

Calories: 205

 

Fat: 11 grams

 

Saturated Fat: 1 gram

 

Protein: 3 grams

 

Carbohydrates: 26 grams

 

Sugar: 12 grams

 

Fiber: 1 gram

 

Cholesterol: 35 milligrams

 

Sodium: 154 milligrams

 

 

Analysis:

The flour I used was America's Choice, it is manufactured by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The flour contains MSG, wheat, gluten and corn as allergens. Ingredients in the flour are Wheat Flour Bleached Enriched (Niacin, Iron Reduced, Thiamine Monoitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2, Folic Acid (Vitamin AB)), and Barley Malted Flour. The only controversial ingredient listed is the Barley Malted Flour so I'm only going to look at this one closer. Barley Malted Flour is used for it's roots, they are made by the flour being sprouted and and then tampered with through water and heat and then dried. I couldn't find anything that said why it's bad or why food facts said it's controversial. The general conclusion for this flour is that it is not that bad for you.

The Cinnamon I used is made by Han-Dee-Pak and while there isn't anything to say about the ingredients of the cinnamon, it is the only ingredient, I will write about Han-Dee-Pak. The company started out family owned and is now owned by McCormick. McCormick is a huge franchise that just keeps buying more and more companies worldwide.  McCormick has been running since 1889. 

I used Arm & Hammer baking soda, which i find weird that Arm & Hammer makes items that could be used for baking and clothes detergent. Arm & hammer makes all kinds of deodorizers such as carpet cleaner, pool maintenance tablets, refrigerator air fresheners, and trash bags. This item contains sodium bicarbonate. This item worries me because there are warnings for stomach warnings. Children under 5 are not even supposed to consume it at all.  The baking soda is manufactured by Church & Dwight Co., Inc. This company is very centered around wildlife conservation awareness. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. was founded in 1846. They are the leading source of baking soda, also the only one I've ever heard of. Church & Dwight is in contract with XTRA, SUPER SCOOP, NICE'N FLUFFY, Unilever oral care, which brings CLOSE-UP and SPINBRUSH and Carter-Wallace, Inc., which entailed APRID and LAMBERT KAY. TROJAN, NAIR, and FIRST RESPONSE came with Armkel LLC. In house care, they are in contract with Orange Glo International, which owns OXI CLEAN, KABOOM, and ORANGE GLO. I wonder how Arm & Hammer thought it was a god idea to make an item used in baking and so many house products. I would like to know how closely these items are manufactured and how sure they are that their products are safe. 

I used Argos Baking Powder, this item contains sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, Corn starch and mono calcium phosphate. These products are all considered safe for food application. It is used to leaven breads and things. I found sodium bicarbonate to be a medicine that is used for heartburn and indigestion issues or "to make your blood or urine less acidic." I'm glad it does this but why is it used in an item I use to cook? Sodium bicarbonate is also the only ingredient in baking soda. I can't find anything for the company, There are some things that say something about retail but never goes in depth for the company. 

I used salt, in salt, there is sodium.

I'm pretty sure the eggs were probably made the bad way and not cage-free. 

The pumpkin I cut and pureed myself. There are alternatives like Libby's Pumpkin. I wanted to make this by myself because I wanted to learn how to do it. I'm sure that the pumpkin probably came from a pumpkin patch. It was kind of a large pumpkin so maybe it had some fertilizers and I'm sure pesticides. 

 

 

​http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-barley-flour.htm

http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Dried-Spices/Spice-Classics-Ground-Cinnamon-337-oz/12856

http://www.mccormickcorporation.com/Corporate/layouts/companyHistory1970_1979.aspx

http://www.armandhammer.com/deodorization/landing.aspx?gclid=CIjRj7bHmqwCFcp65QodUQUUOg

http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Baking-Powder/Arm-Hammer-Baking-Soda-16-oz/11981

http://www.churchdwight.com/Company/index.asp

http://www.foodfacts.com/NutritionFacts/Baking-Powder/Argo-Baking-Powder-12-oz/47492

http://www.ccnt-phosphate.com/food-grade-phosphates/Sodium_Acid_Pyrophosphate_SAPP/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000538/

                  In this unit, I have learned the importance of knowledge of the food industry because it is good to know what they are doing to what we consume. Almost nothing is natural and untouched and I believe this is a problem with society, especially the fact that we let it get this far. It's mostly greed, not need, that has brought us to this.. and laziness. The human race  is perfectly capable of making their own food, it's been done. We would just rather have someone else do it. I would like to grow my own food and eat it but my issue is that I don't eat enough vegetables so I probably wouldn't eat anything I grew. I'm not going to grow chicken either because I am not will-minded enough to kill and eat one so my life relies on the market. Darn. I already don't drink soda or eat chips. I really need to start making and eating my own dinners, though. My meals consist of cereal, no lunch and then frozen pizza or pasta. Definitely not the healthiest food choices.

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