A lot of people hate corn syrup for a lot of different reasons. For an overview, watch King Corn, a recent documentary that’s both interesting and mildly shocking.
While it’s hard to eliminate all corn syrup from your life, there are a few easy fixes. Giving up most corn-syrup-sweetened soft drinks, say. Goodbye, too, to all sorts of sweet check-out-aisle confections. If you read ingredients lists, you’ll see it in a huge range or products, some of which are easier to give up than others.
And so, I can only imagine the festive rejoicing of heath-consciousness, eco-friendly Christmas-lovers when they find these organic, gluten-free, corn-syrup free, vegan peppermint candy canes from Tru Sweets, which also claim to have no artificial colours or flavours.
The Pitch: “Remember the candy you loved – before you started reading labels? It’s back! And it’s better than ever. Made for the way you treat yourself today, TruSweets candies contain all natural ingredients and no artificial flavours or colours. They’re certified organic and corn-syrup free, too.”
The Look: Like regular peppermint candy canes, minus the ultra-white colouring. These look more earthy, with a tan-beige hue where the white should be, and a deeper, more subdued red stripe. (The colouring comes from organic fruit juice or red beet juice.)
The Taste: Minty and creamy, without being medicinal or overly cold. Dissolves at a nice rate. No odd aftertaste, just nice and sweet. In all honesty, it tastes like a candy cane. Full stop. And yes, in case you wanted to know, they can be sucked to a nice, deadly point.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $5.29 for a 150 gram (5 oz.) box of 10 candy canes at Planet Organic.
Value for cash money: Meh. If you’re buying organic candy canes, you expect to pay more. You probably already know that you can easily find non-organic candy canes for half the price.
Availability: Health/organic stores.
Nutrition?: Per 1 candy cane (15 grams): 60 calories, 0 grams of fat, 5 mg of sodium, 0 grams of fibre, 0 grams of protein. Not a whole lot here, other than 10 grams of sugars.
The verdict: They’re super yummy, and I can’t say I mind spending $5 on candy canes, knowing they’re at least a little bit eco-minded. If I bought 10 boxes a year, it would add up. But who eats more than a single box of candy canes in a year? These are totally worth it for the vegan on your Christmas list.