Thank you, Terra Chips, or, The Dangers of Impulse Shopping.

[alfreda89]

I think that "natural flavors" added into Terra Chips makes me dizzy.

Yup, that's probably gluten. They don't put gluten-free on their bags for a reason. And the Terra lady on the phone says she definitely would not suggest someone avoiding gluten try anything but the basic root chips cooked in oil.

PROS: Score! If gluten is what has been making me dizzy, then as I get rid of gluten in my life, I can go back to ballroom dancing!

CONS: I liked those cinnamon spice sweet potato chips.

Will just have to bake my own in the oven. I don't have a fryer, because the oil would coat the apartment -- maybe if I had an outdoor cooking area, I'd get one. And watch Alton Brown's show on proper frying of fries (sweet, in my case.) I'd better go have my last fries at Kerby Lane, too -- they cook everything in the same oil, I'm pretty sure, so there go those sweet potato fries, too. Bah --

Comments

[ferragus.livejournal.com]

Local high end markets in my area (Sunflower Market and Whole Foods) are starting to carry a sweet potato fry that looks really good.

We also make sweet potato chips ourselves:

Pre heat oven to 350

Slice thick (for chips), maybe 1/4 inch

Line pan with foil and brush the foil with olive oil
(cheaper then spray and less mess from overspray)

Arrange slices on pan and hit with a quick spray of olive oil (in this case you get less oil then brushing and that's good)

Optional, a small dot of butter and brown sugar if you're really decadent - but skip that for the first batch so you have a baseline, they really are very good plain

Cook about 15 minutes (check after 10, unless you're a really good slicer, the thinner slices will cook faster of course) and flip them over for another 10 minutes.

If they aren't browned nicely, turn on the broiler with the rack in the middle of the over for not more then 2 minutes, watch them, they go from nicely brown to flaming black pretty quickly, esp with brown sugar on them!

remove them from the foil while still warm (nylon or silicon spatula works best) and put on a plate to cool (if you can resist them!)

Soon as we make the plunge and actually buy the pre-cut fries, I'll let you know what we think of them and maybe even something useful like what brand they are :)

Good luck!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Sounds good, thanks, I'll try the mix of brushing and spraying.

I've tried the Alexia sweet potatoes -- they had two kinds. One I could eat, one I couldn't. I think it was wheat in one of them (pre-formed for size, maybe?) that was the problem, I don't remember.

Will Whole Foods have their own brand? I can't use their gluten-free stuff -- so far, all their baked GF has potato starch, and right now, that adds to the inflammation problem.

[pameladean]

My mother has made regular white potato chips in the microwave, using either a food processor or manual Mouli Julienne device to slice them very thin. I don't see why it wouldn't work with sweet potatoes, though the timing might vary.

P.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

The problem, interestingly enough, is that sweet potatoes are harder than regular potatoes. I've killed two different versions of potato cutters using them on sweeties -- the steel literally bends. The next step up is a commercial $250 press, and I think I should try a mandoline first! When it's in budget.

Free-handing it is hard, because cutting through the potatoes is hard. I may need a cleaver.

[pameladean]

Good grief, I did know that sweet potatoes are harder -- it's very difficult to stab them with a fork for baking -- but I had no notion they could bend steel. It's odd, because they get much softer in soups and stews.

Good luck with your project.

P.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It is very weird, because in my experience they can go bad faster, too -- part of the reason I think their price is higher, on average, than regular potatoes.

I just found out you can make sorghum popcorn. Hummm....

[sheilagh.livejournal.com]

"natural flavors" may be the hidden MSG stuff. like, it isn't MSG when they put it in the pot, but by the time it's cooked, it has transformed into MSG, giving them the salesmanship benefit of MSG's "tastiness" (umame), but technically, they can skip calling it MSG.

and one of those "natural flavors" variants, if I'm recalling correctly, is hydrolyzed wheat protein...

googling for "hydrolyzed wheat protein", it turns up on celiac-risky food sites, and also, weirdly, it seems to be good for hair! o_O

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

All very true. "Natural flavors" does suggest gluten, because MSG contains gluten a lot of the time.

I'm going to have to do through the pantry searching for my own wicked items. Wheat I've sifted out, but not these hidden ones.

I think it's Odd Friday night! I shall finish the mail, then go see folk --

Another solution!

[originalkitsune.livejournal.com]

Get one of those George Foreskin Grills. Coat some thin cut sweet potatoes with whatever oil. Cook. Done in 10 min.

I got one of those things because I can't tolerate any oils besides olive, coconut, sesame, flax, and fish. So to make my own fries i've got to do this. Of course those grills have teflon on them, which isn't that awesome...

Re: Another solution!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I thought the danger was eating Teflon -- as in, the thing gets scratched, it's no longer food safe? And of course, at high heat it kills your parrot.

It does suggest its not great for us. I have two small pans that are coated I use to heat up my vega tea and for eggs when I'm tired. The rest are polished steel or cast iron. Elbow grease time!

Re: Another solution!

[originalkitsune.livejournal.com]

I can't have most oils, even things thought to be "healthy" like safflower or sunflower or peanut or walnut or even almond oil. :( My body rejects it. It just pours out of my skin in copious quantity within an hour of ingestion. I ate at Magnolia cafe one night with sheilagh and another friend and I guess they used canola oil in my otherwise delicious stir-fried vegan fare. I was pouring oil out of every pore esp on my scalp. Within one hour my scalp itched and was covered in oil as if i hadn't washed my hair in weeks.

I'm sure the teflon is bad for me but the oil is going to get me first.

:p

Re: Another solution!

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Wow -- I wonder if you have to press the blasted stuff yourself, if it has to be THAT fresh for your body to accept it? Can you buy EVOO in small amounts and use it? I refrigerate all my oils -- otherwise they start turning too fast for me.