I’m not opposed to thickeners and gums across the board, and not opposed to modernist whatever, but I have recently found some products thickened for reasons I can’t fathom. Why does everything for the US consumer have to be thick and gloppy? Latest example: Cholula hot sauce. I’ve put a lot of Cholula on a lot of food and it has always been runny. Recently I bought a small bottle for home use, and it has added thickeners (I’m not at home at the moment, I think it was xanthan gum). I don’t need my hot sauce to coat a spoon! Creepy and unnecessary!
I was just discussing this last night in a really great hot sauce boutique store in my town. I told him I didn’t want any gums, maltodextrin, etc. and that while I love the taste of a scotch bonnet peri peri sauce I have, the fact that xanthan gum makes it drop out like a blob of snot really kills my appetite for it.
Carageenan is in almost all containers of heavy cream; I won’t buy them. Ricottas are disgusting; full of locust bean, guar other gums except for some very good fresh ones that can be hard for some to find.
Oh that reminds me of another one - cottage cheese. I will only buy Daisy brand because it doesn’t have added thickeners, I don’t need my cheese curds coated in goo.
Yes and Daisy sour cream is very good. I found an even better cottage cheese at Fresh Market, one of very few things I buy there; it’s from grass fed milk cows and sold in a glass jar.
