Sugar

Time Magazine blames O.J. Simpson. But for me, from the moment USA Today began dumbing down the news and replacing nutritious information with cotton-candy graphics almost 30 years ago, the events of the past two weeks became inevitable. USA Today gave rise to color (in my archaic view, the first time a newspaper printed a color photograph we were doomed, because we started putting looks ahead of content) and the 10-inch news story, and with that sacrificed the advantage newsprint had over videotape: Detail, and the knowledge that comes with detail.

Two of my favorite food groups, salt and sugar, were in the news this week. Grease and chocolate, meanwhile, managed to fly under the national radar, at least for the time being. For salt, the news was good, although bad for anyone who has deprived himself of dry-roasted peanuts for the last four decades, and might now be tempted to go after the Department of Agriculture with a machete. Writing an op-ed in the New York Times, health-policy researcher Gary Taubes rather effectively destroys the conventional wisdom that salt is bad for you. In fact, some studies show that the greater danger is getting too little salt.

Mary Poppins said, "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. " The problem is that Americans are eating, and drinking, too many spoonfuls of sugar for good health. Based on U.S. Department of Agriculture surveys, Americans average 20.5 teaspoons of added sugars per day. That's 68.5 pounds per year. Added sugars are sugars and syrups added to foods in processing or preparation. This does not include the naturally occurring sugar in foods like fruit or milk. In some age groups, sugar intake is even higher.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage eating a diet low in fat and moderate in sugar and salt. If you want to alter frequently used recipes, how low can you go for these three ingredients without sacrificing taste and quality? Sugar and fat affect tenderness and volume of baked products. Sugar, fat and salt and all add flavor to foods. However, you often can use less of these ingredients and still enjoy the finished product. Herbs and spices may be used to enhance flavor when reducing sugar, fat and salt.

If you were at the grocery store last Tuesday evening, no doubt you ran into public school teachers out buying juice. This stems from the Washington County Board of Education's newly approved War on Sugar. No soda. No candy bars. No baked goodies. No high-fat, high-calorie, high-sugar items will be sold in schools from 12:01 a.m. until 30 minutes after the school day's conclusion. It's sort of like the way they cut off beer sales at baseball games after the seventh inning.

Potato candy is sugary sweet for a good reason: It contains a lot of sugar - confectioners' sugar. There are potatoes in there, and they're the real deal. In other words, instant potatoes have no place in potato candy, Alsetta Broadway said. And she ought to know. Broadway has been making potato candy for 13 years, selling it at Hagerstown's City Farmers Market on West Church Street. She uses an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe that has been handed down via word of mouth.

1 loaf (16 ounces) of thinly sliced white bread, crusts removed 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 egg yolk 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted Flatten bread with a rolling pin. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, egg yolk and confectioners' sugar. In another bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Spread about 1 tablespoon (or more to taste) of the cream cheese mixture on each slice of bread.

4 cups cooked rice 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon salt Mix eggs, milk and sugar together, add to cooked rice and mix well. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour rice mixture into dish, sprinkle nutmeg on top and cook in 350-degree oven for 45 minutes until lightly browned. Serves at least 7. Eat as is or sprinkle with sugar and add milk to taste.

Chocolate Cherry Crunch Cookies 2 cups sugar 4 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons cocoa 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup nuts, chopped 1/2 cup 10x sugar 1 jar cherries, drained and chopped Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar, butter and cocoa. Mix in eggs (one at a time, mix each egg well) and add vanilla. Put in flour and baking powder.

3 cups boiling water 1 family-size tea bag or 3 regular-size tea bags 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, or to taste 5 cups cold water Ice cubes Pour boiling water over tea bags. Set aside and let steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bags. Put sugar in a large pitcher; pour warm tea over sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add 5 cups cold water and stir until well mixed. Cool and serve in tall glasses over ice. Makes 1/2 gallon. Recipe courtesy of Linda Stradley, www.whatscookingamerica.

The school system's got milk - from low-fat to fat and lactose free - in a variety of flavors. Chocolate is the favorite milk flavor of students in Washington County Public Schools, followed by vanilla, according to the school system's Food and Nutrition Services Supervisor Jeff Proulx. Washington County Board of Education members, who were about to vote on a contract for a milk supplier, asked Proulx about the vanilla flavoring and the sugar in flavored milk during a May 7 school board meeting.

  Double Chocolate Summer Berry Cupcakes 3 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips 1 1/2 cups hot brewed Starbucks vanilla coffee 3 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 3/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 3 large eggs 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350 degrees....

The annual Maple Sugar Festival at Claud E. Kitchens Outdoor School at Fairview will be Saturday, March 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will feature maple-sugaring demonstrations, a bluegrass band and children's activities. There is no charge for admission and activities. A pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. will be served in the dining hall, sponsored by the Clear Spring Elementary School Green Club. Tickets for the breakfast are available for purchase by calling Clear Spring Elementary School at 301-766-8074.

Teri Leiter and her husband, David, are co-owners of Leiters' Fine Catering in Williamsport and Hagerstown. But this Christmas sugar cookie recipe is actually a family recipe, according to Teri Leiter. "We first started doing this in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. We'd cut out a small heart in the top cookie," she said. She said the Leiter family has been involved with food for 40 years. David's parents owned Richardson's restaurant in the 1940s, then sold the restaurant in the early '70s and dedicated themselves to catering.

This recipe is a go-to treat for Funkstown resident Cindy Parks. "I make them all year-round because I love them so much," she said. "They're simple. I can make them with and without a mixer, which makes them easy. " She said she learned to cook — at least to cook some things — from her mom. "She'd come home from work and try to cook stuff fast. But on the weekend, oh, she'd cook food to die for — fried chicken, stuffed peppers," Parks said. "But I taught myself the baking stuff.

Bea Lahn moved to Hagerstown with her husband in 1951. They raised a family and were active in Hagerstown's synagogue, B'nai Abraham Congregation. This recipe has been a family favorite. "This is a recipe given to me by my mother many years ago," Lahn said. "It's a simple version of luction kugel. Luction is the word for noodle. Kugel is a pudding. It's a universal recipe - everybody does it a little different. " Noodle pudding is a traditional Eastern European Jewish dish.

Apples have a cherished place in American values. From Johnny Appleseed to apple pie, the United States wouldn't seem the same if apples had not appeared on the plates and in the cups of our forebears. Patty Power, co-owner of Distillery Lane Ciderworks in Burkittsville, said American pioneers didn't grow apples for food. "Originally, apples were grown to drink. They weren't grown with the expectation of just eating them," Power said. "When they kept the cider long enough, it would turn, and they would drink hard cider.

Allison Spaid, 13, of Smithsburg, was youth champion in the cake division of the 2012 Washington County Ag Expo and Fair. She said this is the first year she has entered the contest, but she has experience in a kitchen. "I've cooked since I was probably 6 or 7," Allison said. "I first cooked with my grandmother - my mom's mother. We made anything from cakes to soups and casseroles. " Her family's roots are several generations deep in the orchards and farms in the Smithsburg area.

I will make this intro short and sweet: For all my family, friends and fellow cooks, chefs, grillers, smokers and such, I give you my friendship and my bread. Enjoy! - Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with Shepherd University dining services in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Chef Ambassador to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Amish Friendship Bread For day 1: 2/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup milk, 2/3 cup flour For days 6: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk For day 10:  1 1/4 cup flour, 1 1/4 cup sugar , 1 1/4 cup milk For final bread: 1 cup applesauce 1/2 cup milk (skim or 2 percent)

Two of my favorite food groups, salt and sugar, were in the news this week. Grease and chocolate, meanwhile, managed to fly under the national radar, at least for the time being. For salt, the news was good, although bad for anyone who has deprived himself of dry-roasted peanuts for the last four decades, and might now be tempted to go after the Department of Agriculture with a machete. Writing an op-ed in the New York Times, health-policy researcher Gary Taubes rather effectively destroys the conventional wisdom that salt is bad for you. In fact, some studies show that the greater danger is getting too little salt.