Cheese at 33,000 feet

On a recent flight from Phoenix to Newark, I didn't expect delicious food, and I didn't expect free food, but I also didn't expect cheese food!

The menu offered a small selection of snack boxes. I chose the "CaféSnack," which was supposed to include Swiss and Gouda cheese.

When the food arrived, I discovered that it actually included Glacier Ridge Farms brand "Gouda style pasteurized process cheese food, gouda-type flavor" and "Swiss style pasteurized process cheese food, swiss-type flavor."

So this was something similar to cheese, but with a few more adjectives -- and a few more ingredients. In addition to cheese, each package contained water, sodium phosphate, calcium proprionate and salt.

It didn't taste awful, but I would have preferred just plain cheese. Cheese isn't terribly perishable, but perhaps there's a good reason it's not practical to serve on a commercial flight. I decided I'd try to find out.

According to Cheese Market News, (yep, no kidding!), Glacier Ridge Farms is the brand name for a line of products manufactured by Dairyfood USA of Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. Their website has a helpful "contact us" form, where I submitted this question:
Hi. I recently ordered a CafeSnack snack box on a US Airways flight, which included Glacier Ridge Farms Gouda style and Swiss style pasteurized process cheese food. These tasted pretty good, but I noticed from the name and ingredients that they're not just cheese. I'd appreciate any information you can share about why US Airways offers this product rather than regular cheese.

The "contact us" form on the US Airways website was a little more challenging to use: I had to divulge my phone number, address and flight details. Still, I was able to submit a similar question there.

If I get a reply from Dairyfood or US Airways, I'll be sure to update this post.

Sad About Slaw: Beware the Deli Counter

I thought I had found a food product that was affordable, tasty and healthful. My local Shoprite's deli counter offers a salad they call "vinegar and oil cole slaw." It's chock full of shredded cabbage and carrots, and while it's clearly not low-fat, its oil-and-vinegar dressing seems lighter than that of mayonnaise-based slaw. I figured it might be high in sodium, but I assumed it was otherwise a good nutritional choice.

Last month, I decided to find out what this product is really made of. The adhesive label printed at the deli counter gave the name "Blue Ridge Vinegar & Oil Slaw." A Google search led to several online grocery sites offering Blue Ridge's conventional mayonnaise slaw, some of which listed the ingredients. But I had no luck finding the ingredients for the vinegar and oil version.

Eventually, I used the "Contact Us" page at shoprite.com to email an inquiry about the product's ingredients and nutrition facts. To Shoprite's credit, a Customer Satisfaction Manager (yep, that's his title!) replied within a few days. Here's the response in its entirety, except that I've omitted the manager's name and contact information to preserve his privacy.

Good Morning Mr. Steve,
The Blue Ridge vinegar and oil coleslaw ingredients are cabbage, high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, carrots, red bell peppers, vinegar, salt, water, sodium erthorbate, potassium sorbata (as a perservative), sodium benzoate (as a persevative), modified food starch (corn), parsley, calcium disodium EDTA. contains: soy.

There are a few typos, but the message is clear. More corn syrup than carrots or peppers. And five chemical additives, three of which are sodium compounds, as well as salt itself. Since the reply didn't include nutrition facts, I'm still in the dark about the precise sodium content, but it's undoubtedly high.

I don't think I'll be buying this product in the future. What I thought was a wholesome vegetable salad is more like a chemical stew.

The larger point is that the deli counter is a labeling-free zone. Most supermarket products include detailed labels with ingredients and nutrition facts in accordance with FDA guidelines. The deli counter is an exception. Unless you do some digging, you don't know what's in the coldcuts, salads and other products offered there. Buyer beware!

Fall colors

At this time of year, it's not only leaves that display beautiful colors. Some amazing hues can be found in the produce aisle, as well.

One example is these orange-and-green acorn squashes, purchased from Whole Foods.

I haven't cooked them yet. I don't expect the preparation or flavor will differ from more ordinary-looking acorn squash, but they're certainly pleasant to look at.

A second example is purple -- yes, purple! -- sweet potatoes. These also came from Whole Foods and were grown in California. In this photo, I've cut the end off one of them, so you can see that the flesh inside is purple, just like the skin.

A sign in the store suggested boiling or steaming to preserve the color, but I went ahead and baked them as I usually do with sweet potatoes: about 45 minutes in a toaster oven at 400 degrees. They were still quite purple after cooking, as you can see from this one that's been baked and split lengthwise.

The flavor was like that of orange sweet potatoes, with one odd difference: the sweetness wasn't uniform throughout each potato. I noticed one end of my potato was very sweet, while the other end was only moderately sweet, with more of a starchy flavor. My wife found the same was true of hers.

One tip for handling these sweet potatoes: they exude a deep red-purple juice when cut while raw, almost like a beet. Even after baking, some juice of the same color dripped when they were cut open. I imagine the juice could stain fabric if you're not careful. On skin or a cutting board, though, it rinsed away with no fuss.

Interestingly, both these beautiful produce items didn't come with premium prices. Each was around $1.50 per pound, a good deal considering they were a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.