bookofjoe

Oreo Throwdown

It happened last Wednesday morning, February 22, around 8:30 a.m.

I was just sitting there quietly, minding my own business, when I turned to the Washington Post's Food section and espied, right there in the lower left hand corner of the front page, a picture of an Oreo and the headline, "What's Missing From This Cookie?"

Talk about waving a red flag in front of a donkey.

Wait a minute... that's not right: a carrot.

Yeah.

Waving a carrot in front of a donkey.

That's the metaphor I wasn't searching for.

But I digress.

The Oreo is perfect.

Perfection means, to my way of thinking, that nothing can be added or taken away to improve something: it has reached its apotheosis.

So I read Judith Weinraub's story with a most attentive mindset.

Not to worry, it turns out: the story was about a taste test she and two local Washington D.C. area pastry chefs conducted with all of the zillions of new Oreo brand extensions that Nabisco's been churning out over the past few years.

Long story short: new Oreos without trans fats were indistinguishable from the originals; the other varieties simply didn't measure up.

Here's the original article along with the results of the competition.

What's Missing From This Cookie?

The classic Oreo is promoted as America's favorite cookie.

But Americans are a diverse crowd, so the Oreo now comes in many configurations.

In addition to the traditional chocolate wafer sandwich filled with vanilla cream, there are double-stuffed ones (with vanilla or peanut-butter cream), chocolate-covered ones (in different flavors) and even reduced-fat and sugar-free Oreos.

Something for everybody.

Then along came the trans-fat rule, and the Oreo universe changed.

Trans fats are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used by manufacturers of processed foods as food stabilizers and flavor enhancers.

But they have a dark side.

Scientific studies found that trans fats raised bad cholesterol, lowered good cholesterol and contributed to diabetes and heart problems.

As a result, in July 2003 the Food and Drug Administration issued a rule requiring manufacturers to print the amount of trans fats on nutrition labels by Jan. 1, 2006.

Food manufacturers, including Kraft Foods, which owns the Oreo brand, were given those 2 1/2 years to figure out a way to maintain the flavor and stability of their signature products without using trans fats -- or disclose the presence of the unhealthy fats on food labels.

In late December, Kraft announced that its products, including Oreos, would meet the trans-fat labeling deadline.

And in January, as the cookies were trucked to the nation's grocery stores, Kraft spokeswoman Laurie Guzzinati announced the newest version of the 94-year-old icon: the trans-fat-free Oreo.

We wondered if Kraft's trans-fat-free recipe would pass muster with the public as a "real Oreo."

So, in December, we bought packages of Oreos made the traditional way to subject them to a "blind" comparative taste test with the new ones.

We also decided to test cookies that were developed without trans fats in the first place.

To do the honors, we invited two local pastry chefs: Steve Klc of Zaytinya in the Penn Quarter and Kate Jansen of Willow Restaurant in the Ballston area of Arlington. Here are their findings:


Old vs. New

The defending champion: Oreos with trans fats.

The challenger: new Oreos without trans fats.

Our tasters found virtually no difference between the two. They praised the original for its good balance between the cream filling and the cookie, its attractive smell and its familiar taste. Trying the new trans-fat-free version, they sensed only slight differences -- a hint more salt and a slightly greater emphasis on the cream -- but found the cookies equal in sweetness, with similar mouth-feel to the filling. "I think you could pass both of them off as the same," said Klc.

Before the trans-fat rule, the amount of trans fat in a processed food could be the entire amount of unidentified fat -- in this case, 5.5 grams. According to the FDA rule that took effect Jan. 1, food manufacturers now may claim "zero trans fats" on a nutritional label as long as there is no more than 0.5 gram of fat in the serving size.

Oreos with trans fats: Serving size is three cookies, 160 calories, 7 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 5.5 grams of unidentified fat.)

New Oreos without trans fats: Serving size is three cookies, 160 calories, 7 total fat grams (2 grams saturated fat, 1 gram polyunsaturated fat, 3 grams monounsaturated fat, 1 gram unidentified fat).


A Couple of Old-Timers

Chocolate Creme Oreos: Each of our testers noticed more filling than in either the original or new Oreo, and maybe because of that a better balance between the cookie layers. However, they liked the taste of those layers less and found the cream too sweet. They didn't taste the chocolate in the cream filling at all. "If I had my eyes closed, I wouldn't know it was chocolate," said Klc.

Serving size is two cookies, 150 calories, 7 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 5.5 grams unidentified fat).

Double Stuf Oreos: Both Klc and Jansen strongly preferred the original Oreo and its successor to this cookie. "It's very sweet, especially in the cream," said Jansen. "It's not a step forward," said Klc, "but it's not as objectionable as the [Chocolate Creme]. The biscuit still comes through."

Serving size is two cookies, 140 calories, 7 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 5.5 grams unidentified fat).


Overachievers

Pure Milk Chocolate-Covered Oreos: These didn't do it for our tasters, who were discouraged by the cookie's appearance, taste and smell. "It's terrible," said Klc. "A mistake on every level. All the coating does is take away attention from the cookie." "It has a really strong aftertaste," said Jansen. "And it doesn't even look like an Oreo."

Serving size is one cookie, 90 calories, 4.5 total fat grams (2.5 grams saturated fat, 1.5 grams monounsaturated fat, 0.5 gram unidentified fat).

Pure Milk Chocolate-Covered Mint Oreos: Our tasters liked the pleasant minty aroma of the cookies, but that was about all they liked. And they just couldn't sense any chocolate. "I could smell the mint, but this could be a vanilla cookie. I can't taste the chocolate coating either," said Klc. "The mint taste disguises the Oreo completely," said Jansen. "It should be more subtle. You can't smell or taste the chocolate."

Serving size is one cookie, 90 calories, 4.5 total fat grams (2.5 grams saturated fat, 1.5 grams monounsaturated fat, 0.5 gram unidentified fat).


Offbeat Oreos

Double Stuf, Peanut Butter Creme Oreos: This cookie frustrated our tasters. "There's a pleasant peanut butter aroma," Jansen said. "Enough so you hope it's worth eating," Klc added. But the taste was another story. "The salt in the cookie is a plus, and it offsets the cloying sweetness of the cream a little," Jansen said. "It doesn't deliver," Klc said. "The cream is too sweet, and the peanut butter taste isn't intense enough."

Serving size is two cookies, 140 calories, 6 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 1.5 grams polyunsaturated fat, 3 grams monounsaturated fat).

Golden Uh-Oh Oreos (vanilla sandwich cookie with chocolate cream): Our tasters thought this cookie lived up to the "uh-oh" in its name. "It looks like a shortbread, but it smells and tastes like artificial vanilla," said Jansen. "The chocolate doesn't come through." Klc was also harder on the filling than the biscuit. "The biscuit is very adequate," said Klc. "But I hate everything about the filling -- it tastes like Crisco and confectioners' sugar."

Serving size is three cookies, 170 calories, 7 total fat grams (2 grams saturated fat, 1.5 grams polyunsaturated fat, 3.5 grams monounsaturated fat).

Sugar-Free Oreos: Our tasters knew something was up because the cookie looked like an Oreo but was smaller. And they kind of liked the cookie. "It's daintier, and the wafer is more tender," Jansen said. "It's attractive." Said Klc: "It's not objectionable. It isn't as good as the original Oreo, but if it's designed to be sugar-free, it's a success."

Serving size is two cookies, 100 calories, 5 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 1 gram polyunsaturated fat, 2.5 grams monounsaturated fat).

Reduced Fat Oreos: It's a good thing the Women's Health Initiative recently found that low-fat diets might not be all they're cracked up to be, because our tasters hated the look, smell and taste of this cookie. The best they could say about it was that it smelled like a graham cracker.

Serving size is two cookies, 100 calories, 5 total fat grams (1.5 grams saturated fat, 1 gram polyunsaturated fat, 2.5 grams monounsaturated fat).

Contact–Activated Garage Parking LED STOP Sign

From the website:

The STOP sign flashes when your bumper touches it.

Park your car without bumping into bicycles, the lawnmower or garden equipment.

When you bump our Garage Parking Signal's flexible stand, a bright light flashes "Stop."

LED bulb lasts for years.

Long-life batteries included.

********************

Dress up as a working traffic signal next Halloween and use this as the upright portion of your headgear.

$19.95.

World Bank Crafts Store To Open — How do you spell 'kinder, gentler?'

What with many of the world's poorest countries so far underwater in terms of ever being able to repay all the billions of dollars lent them by the World Bank and private lenders seeking some of the room at the bottom we've all been led to believe exists — that upside potential waiting to be unlocked (because, after all, when you're at rock bottom, by definition there's nothing but upside, is there?) — it's not exactly a good time for John Perkins's explosive new book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," to appear on the scene.

So perhaps it's just coincidence — but I think you know what I think of coincidences: they're simply a sign that someone wasn't paying attention — that last week the World Bank gave Ylan Q. Mui an exclusive on its new global arts and crafts store, set to open in mid–May at the downtown Washington, D.C. headquarters of International Finance Corp., the branch of the World Bank overseeing the project.

To be called Pangea Artisan Market and Cafe, the 3,800–square–foot store will showcase both the crafts and "the stories of the people who make them."

Here's Mui's article.

World Bank Goes Into the Global Crafts Business

The World Bank is planning to open a store this spring that will sell crafts from developing countries to help promote socially responsible trade -- and help burnish its image in response to critics who say the agency does exactly the opposite.

The store, Pangea Artisan Market and Cafe, is to be in the downtown Washington headquarters of International Finance Corp., the branch of the World Bank that is overseeing the project.

It will sell a range of handmade merchandise such as banana-leaf handbags from Indonesia and silk pillowcases from Cambodia.

The small businesses whose products are to be sold in the store will be required to adhere to ethical practices, such as prohibiting child labor, and to submit to yearly inspections by the IFC, said Harold Rosen, director of the project and the IFC's Grassroots Business Initiative.

The store also plans to hold workshops on emerging markets and global economic issues.

The move is the latest in an ongoing effort by the bank to bolster its reputation.

The World Bank has become a favorite target of protesters who criticize its free-market policies and philosophy of globalization, particularly since the 1999 demonstrations in Seattle during a meeting of the World Trade Organization.

Pangea is intended to help dispel the notion that "everything in globalization must be bad for poor people," Rosen said.

"We want to show that doesn't have to be the case," he said.

The bank's critics say the agency too often hurts the poor in developing countries by insisting on painful austerity policies, such as eliminating government benefits and subsidies, in exchange for loans.

They complain that the bank also demands that developing countries adopt policies that benefit multinational companies rather than people in poverty.

Rosen said he plans to meet next month with several groups that have been critical of the World Bank's policies, including anti-poverty group Oxfam International, to talk about the Pangea project.

Pangea is an allusion to a more-connected Earth, referring to the enormous land mass scientists theorize existed before continents split apart.

The store is finding merchandise through Novica, which sells handmade global crafts and is affiliated with National Geographic and the nonprofit group Aid to Artisans.

Suppliers must sign a commitment to produce goods without child labor or forced labor, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and serious environmental harm, among other provisions.

The IFC plans to monitor their practices, help them make changes that may be needed and invest in the businesses, Rosen said.

At the 3,800-square-foot Pangea store, displays will be designed to showcase not only the crafts but also the stories of the people who make them.

For example, the silk purses from Cambodia are sewn by women who had been rescued from sexual slavery and often drug addiction by the Swiss nonprofit Hagar, a favorite of socially conscious actress Angelina Jolie.

The elephant grass placemats come through a group called Gone Rural that works with HIV-positive women in Swaziland who have little or no access to medical care.

The Superchango chocolate bars are made with a Bolivian grain called canawa, grown by farmers in lieu of coca, a shrub used to make cocaine.

While the store is expected to offer educational opportunities, with short videos available about the country where an item is made, Rosen said the main goal will be to help countries develop infrastructure and businesses with long-term potential.

World Craft & Co. of Springfield will manage Pangea's retail operations.

Owner Sunil Shrestha, a Nepalese immigrant, said he has worked with several of the producers to ensure that their products are marketable in the United States.

For example, he asked handbag makers in Indonesia to include pockets for cell phones and requested that photo albums from Cambodia be designed for 4-by-6-inch prints, rather than 3-by-5-inch prints.

Most of the merchandise will be priced from $25 to $100.

Shrestha said that he is talking to local restaurant Bread & Chocolate to supply the store's food and that only fair-trade coffee will be sold.

The philosophy of Pangea hits particularly close to home, he said.

"Since we are from those regions," he said, "we really want to help those people over there."

The project has been two years in the planning, Rosen said, with security one of the main challenges.

Visitors to the IFC headquarters now must submit to metal detectors and have a picture ID made before leaving the lobby.

Pangea would be open to the public, however, so it must have a separate entrance and remain closed off from IFC offices.

A tentative opening date has been set for mid-May.

Rosen said he hopes that Pangea will help spark "intellectual buzz" about global economics.

"I've always had the dream that we could open it up a bit and do something that would enliven the community," he said.

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Here's a link to the preface of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man."

You can read the book's prologue here.

Here's a link to the transcript of an interview with John Perkins, the book's author.

Here's a link to the website of John Perkins.

Single Egg Poacher

I've learned my lesson.

The last time I featured a device to enable poached egg preparation, I remarked as an aside that I doubted any of my readers were the poached egg type.

Boy, was I wrong.

A firestorm of email ensued and set me straight.

You can read a small sample if you scroll down to the comments on that poast.

So no joking around here, just the facts.

From the website:

For a holiday breakfast, special-occasion brunch or for everyday enjoyment, create poached eggs in an oval shape using this aluminum mold.

Designed to rest inside a pan on its feet, the mold has a loop handle so you can safely lift it from hot water.

Measures 3.5"W x 6.75"H.

Dishwasher–safe.

Two for $3.99.

Oven Rack Adjuster

Puts to shame the overpriced ridiculousness previously published here.

It's made of wood and measures about 14" long x 1" wide.

You use the notch carved a few inches down the side of the tool to pull an oven rack out to check doneness (below)

and then push the rack back into place with the notch carved into the tool's end (below).

The one pictured up top costs $4.

Prefer yours in myrtlewood (below)?

$8 here.

[via cooksillustrated.com]

bookofjoe retires the original joecam

Comes a time, as the song goes....

Time has come today.

You may have noticed, over the days, weeks, months and perhaps even years (for you lifers) the spectacular original photographs occasionally employed to illustrate bookofjoe posts.

Well, the chimpanzee who takes them has just thrown down his antiquated instrument and says his union just yesterday issued a new set of regulations for 2006 which forbid using stuff from the Paleolithic era of technology.

So, the official bookofjoe camera — a Dimage X (above) from Minolta, purchased for around $400 years ago, capable of 1 megapixel at its highest resolution, still beautiful in its sleek housing, measuring all of 0.75" x 2.75" x 3.25" — will soon be consigned to the scrap heap.

Why?

1) First and foremost, the battery now has an effective life of 7 or 8 pictures, even when freshly charged

2) The viewfinder no longer functions, which has been the status quo since I dropped the camera a year or so ago, in the process chipping the body as well

I've been fine using the LCD screen (1.5") for framing and all but the lifespan–of–a–firefly battery has finally forced me to call it a day.

I've been keeping up with the latest and greatest over the years so it shouldn't take a whole lot of time (or money, thanks to Moore's Law — pixel version) to make the switch.

I'll keep you posted.

'Go Amish' Cast Aluminum Implement Seat

These seats "are a favorite of our local farmers," says the website copy of a company located in the heart of Ohio Amish country.

From the website:

Cast Implement Seat

Comfort for work or play

A set of these would look great at your breakfast bar or in your recreation room.

Formed shape is comfortable for children or adults and works equally well on a horse–drawn harrow, riding lawnmower, bar stool or child's riding toy.

They are a favorite of our local farmers.

Cast aluminum will never rust, resists cracking and shape won't hold water.

Comes painted silver but can be painted your choice of color.

Seat only!

Mount on metal or wooden legs.

Stool as shown is not available from Lehman's.

18-3/4" wide; 7 lb.

$34.95.