Sugar

Sugar is glorious.

It’s no secret that the refined sugars found in our pantries and hidden in just about every processed food on the market can be harmful to our health when consumed at an unchecked rate. However, giving up refined sugars and all of the delicious things they contribute to outright can seem like the steepest dietary sacrifice you can make—and the chemical-filled artificial alternatives aren’t exactly good for you either.  

Nutritionists say it’s best to avoid huge meals in favor of spreading out a series of healthy portions over a day. Or, you may be like me and never feel full even if you do graze all day long. 

Now that fall is here, you may be updating your pantry with seasonal sweeteners. But not all sugar is the same, and this is especially true when it comes down to batches of molasses. We've already broken down the difference between unsulphured and sulphured molasses. Now, let's clear up the confusion surrounding blackstrap molasses. 

Holiday baking season is officially underway, and that means a few timely staples will once again make their way into your pantry. Before you grab another bottle of molasses, though, it helps to know your options. 

When the juice in sugar beets and sugarcane is extracted and refined, a dark, viscous syrup is left behind. That byproduct is molasses, which is mostly used to darken and refine plain granulated sugar (turning it into brown sugar) and in the creation of rum. Molasses is also used as a distinctly flavored sweetener in baking. 

Given that sugar is one of the most commonly used ingredients across the board, it’s no surprise that it comes in many various forms—and yet we sometimes have a hard time differentiating one from another. While all sugars are derived from similar ingredients, not all are created equal—and sugar’s duties can go well beyond providing sweetness to a recipe.

Hiccups are the actual worst. Defined as an involuntary contraction of your diaphragm followed by a closure of your vocal cords, they’re uncomfortable, they come at the most inconvenient times, and they are seriously annoying. Though science hasn’t proven a foolproof method to curing hiccups, everyone has their one tried-and-true fix they swear by.

You might dream of living a caramelized onion kind of life. Many of us do. But life gets in the way. To get real, actual caramelized onions takes time, like at least one episode of Billions time.

Granola bars make on-the-go eating efficient, but are they actually healthy? Usually not—even though most people think so. A 2016 New York Times survey of about 2,000 Americans and 672 nutritionists revealed that while more than 70% of Americans described granola bars as “healthy,” less than a third of nutritional experts agreed.