Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The difference between dark and golden raisins

Golden ones are gassed with sulfur dioxide

Dear Matthew Alice: Munching on one of my favorite snacks, raisins, I noticed a nutritional difference between white seedless raisins and the regular ones. The white seedless raisins have 0.5gfat, 20mg sodium, 36g carbohydrates, and 5g fiber. The regular raisins have no fat, lOmg sodium, 33g carbohydrates, and 2g fiber. Both have equal amounts of protein and iron. This is based on equal servings of each. Why is this? — Healthy Eater, faxland

Sponsored
Sponsored

I’m mighty glad you asked, Healthy. Otherwise it likely would have been months before I learned that another fine American institution, the Raisin Hot Line, is defunct. Or at any rate, it’s feeling kinda woozy. In fact, the state’s entire dried-fruit brain trust is out of biz for the moment. Best I can tell, it all started as a shouting match over the doo-wopping California Raisins, and before they were finished, the state agriculture department had to step in and bust it up before there were mayhem and looting. The dried-grape guys are now regrouping and trying to figure what to do with 15 mil left in the treasury. In the meantime, the singing cartoon fruit characters are off TV, sequestered in some Fresno motel until a cease-fire is declared. I’m not making this up. It’s true. It was in all the papers. Well, almost all. And, well, most of it is true.

But the raisin rajahs did take time out from deliberations to say that, nutritionally, a raisin is a raisin is, basically, a raisin, no matter what color it is. Any differences are small and come from variations in growing locations, weather patterns, grape variety, or laboratory test situations. Most raisin processors will test their products once and print those nutritional values on their packages forever more. Apparently there is a single, “average” statement of nutritional content for all types of raisins, which the marketing board has issued, but in the confusion the day I called, nobody could find it. For the most part, dark and golden raisins begin their brief, wrinkly lives as the same type of grape. The golden ones are gassed with sulfur dioxide before they’re dried to keep them from oxidizing into the dark form and to reduce microbe growth. The raisin folks swear that sulfites have no effect on nutritional content.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity

Dear Matthew Alice: Munching on one of my favorite snacks, raisins, I noticed a nutritional difference between white seedless raisins and the regular ones. The white seedless raisins have 0.5gfat, 20mg sodium, 36g carbohydrates, and 5g fiber. The regular raisins have no fat, lOmg sodium, 33g carbohydrates, and 2g fiber. Both have equal amounts of protein and iron. This is based on equal servings of each. Why is this? — Healthy Eater, faxland

Sponsored
Sponsored

I’m mighty glad you asked, Healthy. Otherwise it likely would have been months before I learned that another fine American institution, the Raisin Hot Line, is defunct. Or at any rate, it’s feeling kinda woozy. In fact, the state’s entire dried-fruit brain trust is out of biz for the moment. Best I can tell, it all started as a shouting match over the doo-wopping California Raisins, and before they were finished, the state agriculture department had to step in and bust it up before there were mayhem and looting. The dried-grape guys are now regrouping and trying to figure what to do with 15 mil left in the treasury. In the meantime, the singing cartoon fruit characters are off TV, sequestered in some Fresno motel until a cease-fire is declared. I’m not making this up. It’s true. It was in all the papers. Well, almost all. And, well, most of it is true.

But the raisin rajahs did take time out from deliberations to say that, nutritionally, a raisin is a raisin is, basically, a raisin, no matter what color it is. Any differences are small and come from variations in growing locations, weather patterns, grape variety, or laboratory test situations. Most raisin processors will test their products once and print those nutritional values on their packages forever more. Apparently there is a single, “average” statement of nutritional content for all types of raisins, which the marketing board has issued, but in the confusion the day I called, nobody could find it. For the most part, dark and golden raisins begin their brief, wrinkly lives as the same type of grape. The golden ones are gassed with sulfur dioxide before they’re dried to keep them from oxidizing into the dark form and to reduce microbe growth. The raisin folks swear that sulfites have no effect on nutritional content.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tyler Farr, Blue Water Film Festival, Mustache Bash

Events March 21-March 23, 2024
Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.