This list is quite eclectic. If there's something you want me to add, or
something you want to comment on, let me
know.
- applesauce
- Most applesauce is sweetened, and
corn syrup is the sweetener of choice. Mott's Natural
is unsweetened (nothing but apples and water). You can also make your
own applesauce by microwaving apples and pressing them through a
sieve.
- aspirin and other medications
- Nearly every solid or
liquid medication that I've checked contains corn starch or corn syrup. As
my general health is good, though, this hasn't yet been much of a problem
for me.
The only corn-free analgesics I had found were Adult Strength
Liquid Tylenol and Alka-Seltzer. I find the
liquid Tylenol nauseating, so I stick to the merely disgusting
Alka-Seltzer. I'm told that the 500mg tablets of
Naprosyn are corn-free, but the 250mg and 375mg
tablets are not. Tom Cornsweet tells me that Extra-Strength Excedrin
(which has caffeine) and Empirin are both free of corn products. I've
confirmed the Empirin (aspirin, cellulose, potato starch), but not the
Excedrin. I'm saddened to report that Empirin is out of production as
of early 1997. If you're upset about this, please convey your
protests to the Warner-Lambert
Company.
Stanback Headache Powders, of Salisbury, NC, makes powdered pain
relievers from both aspirin ("Original Formula") and
acetaminophen (""Aspirin Free"). A helpful netizen tells me
that Stanback's Original Formula is sold at Walmart retail stores and
also at the Walgreens on-line
store. Inactive ingredients are colloidal silicon dioxide,
docusate sodium, and potassium chloride. The active ingredients are
650 mg aspirin, 200 mg salicylamide and 32 mg caffeine.
Sudafed
is made with potato starch, but some formulations also have corn
starch. One that doesn't, as of this writing, is Sudafed
Plus, a combination decongestant and
antihistamine.
Benadryl
is available in liquid forms free from corn products, but the variety
of formulations means you have to read the labels very carefully. All
sorts of Benadryl tablets seem to have starch, dextrose, or
sorbitol. You can check the ingredient lists for all forms of Sudafed,
Benadryl, and many related medications at the Warner-Lambert Web site.
- baby formula
- Most baby formulas contain a
substantial amount of corn syrup, which both provides calories and
counteracts the constipating effects of the iron additives. Bryan
Bluhm tells me that switching from a liquid formula (48% corn syrup by
weight) to a powdered one without corn products improved a friend's
baby's sleep pattern tremendously.
- bread and baked goods
- Commercially baked bread is
almost certain to contain corn products. Pita bread (if it's reasonably
authentic) is the only likely exception, but even that's not for
certain. Donuts are almost certain to have corn products in glaze,
coating sugar, filling, or batter.
Many bakers scatter corn meal to keep baked goods from sticking in the
oven. Check for it on the bottom of bread loaves, bagels, pizza, and
calzones. Corn meal on bagels seems to be standard here in Boston,
with very few exceptions, but unheard of in Montreal. Tell me how it
is in your area, and I'll report it here. (Reader Cynthia Anderson
tells me there's cornmeal on some Washington DC bagels.)
Cakes and muffins can be made with either baking powder or baking soda. As
mentioned above, nearly all baking powders contain corn starch. You'll also
find corn starch (for thickening) or corn syrup (for sweetening) in many
frostings. Corn starch is a standard ingredient in confectioner's
sugar, used in most home-made frostings. I'm fond of a frosting made
with evaporated milk, granulated sugar, and melted chocolate mixed in
a blender. Reader Laura Bligh likes to melt a good-quality white
chocolate (such as Ghirardelli's classic white confection bar) and
spread it over the warm cake.
Although most chocolate doesn't have any corn in it, some bakers use
malt-sweetened chocolate to avoid refined sugar. I've seen corn malt
mentioned, but often the kind of malt isn't specified.
I heartily recommend buying a bread machine. Even if you know nothing
about baking, you can make fresh bread with just a few minutes
work. For recipes and advice, join the bread-bakers
mailing list by sending your request to bread-bakers-request@lists.bread-bakers.com. The
body of your mail should read "subscribe".
- breakfast cereals
- Among national brands, I eat
Rice Chex and Shredded Wheat. (The
malt in Rice Chex is barley malt. Call the 800 number on the box if
you want to check, and they'll probably send you some discount
coupons.) Nearly everything else in the cereal aisle is either made of
corn or sweetened with corn syrup. Cheerios, ever-popular among
children and parents, has both corn and potato starch. (The slightly
different Canadian Cheerios use
corn flour in place of the starches.) If you want a wider choice in
cereals, go to a health-food store and take a look at the offerings
from Erewhon and Arrowhead Mills, among others. Helpful reader
Suzanne Guidroz tells me that Malt-O-Meal's Honey Nut Toasty
O's seem not to have any corn in them.
- Chinese food
- Corn starch is the standard thickener
for Chinese sauces. Some restaurants will omit it if you ask them to,
leaving the sauce very watery. Be sure to ask whether baby corn is among
the vegetables in any unfamiliar dish.
- cold cuts
- Cold cuts (cooked ham, turkey, roast
beef, bologna, pastrami, corned beef, and the like) are often treated
with dextrose, corn syrup, food starch, or caramel coloring. Very few
are free of corn products. This is a major problem, as you usually
can't read the original label at a deli counter or sandwich
shop. Hebrew National makes some corn-free cold cuts,
as do a few smaller companies.
- fast food
- Fast food is a complete disaster if
you're allergic to corn. Start by ruling out all bread products, soft
drinks, fried foods, cheap ice cream, and frozen yogurt. Margarine, salad
dressings, and ketchup are all dangerous. You're left with real cheese,
mustard, water, pure fruit juices, and unprocessed meats. (Hamburger and
plain chicken are usually OK, but hot dogs aren't. And don't eat the bun,
in any case.)
- grits and hominy are principally
cornmeal.
- hot dogs
- Hot dogs are very much like cold cuts.
I've only found one variety which is corn-free, an all-beef one from
Hebrew National.
- ice cream
- See the section on Corn-free ice cream and yogurt.
- potato chips
- Unless you buy a brand of potato chips
which makes a particular point of using a single kind of oil, you have to
check the ingredients on each bag that you buy. Potato chip makers change
oils at the drop of a hat. Flavored chips are likely to have dextrose
or food starch as a component of the coating mixture. Helpful reader
Suzanne Guidroz tells me that Utz potato chips
are made with cottonseed oil. I'm partial to Michael Season's chips myself,
made with canola oil.
- soft drinks
- All of the major soft drinks
(i.e., everything made by Coca-Cola or Pepsi) are sweetened with corn syrup
or Nutrasweet, but some regional or specialty brands aren't. Soho
(with cane sugar) might be the best known one, but R.W. Knudsen and
After The Fall (both sweetened with white grape juice) also seem to be
widely distributed. Jolt Cola
was made entirely with cane sugar, but readers reported cans saying
"Corn Syrup and/or Sugar," and now simply "Corn Syrup." The Dublin, TX, bottler of
Dr. Pepper makes it without corn syrup, so Texans might want to
look for that. Non-Texans can now (June 2002) order Dublin Dr. Pepper
over the web. Virgil's Root
Beer is made with cane sugar and gets good reviews. Call
1-800-626-SODA to find a retailer near you. Shenandoah
Sassafras Rootbeer is free of corn syrup, like all of Journey Food's products.
Several readers have pointed out to me that soft drinks marked "Kosher
for Passover" must be free of corn products, although the ingredient
labelling is sometimes not changed to reflect the Passover
formulation. Passover Coca-Cola is available in many areas in the
appropriate season.
Helpful reader Deloris Thiede
suggests making your own soft drinks by mixing fruit juices and
carbonated water. But be sure to use real fruit juice, she warns, as
some fruit drinks are sweetened with corn syrup.
- soy milk
- Friendly netizen Craig Bond asked White Wave about the content of Silk Soy Milk and
learned that they use a corn-based alcohol to carry the natural
flavorings. I don't know if this is the case for other soy milks or
milk substitutes.
- yogurt
- See the section on Corn-free ice cream and yogurt.
