I promise, I'm not a racist.

This morning, an anchor on the local news program I watch on weekdays made a horrifying statement, and I became sad for her.  She and the weatherman had a brief exchange about PB&J as they wrapped up a segment, and the female anchor proudly exclaimed, “I love having my PB&J on Wonder bread.”  O dear.  The weather man made his rebuttal: “I have mine on whole wheat.”  The anchor fired back, “What!?  It can't be on whole wheat. You HAVE to have PB&J on white bread!” I hope the majority of viewers agree with the weatherman instead of taking heed to that little white lie.

About three years ago, I first learned to axe white flour, sugar, and rice.  I wasn’t sure of the reasoning, but I eventually conducted some research to find out.  The negative, common denominator for these foods that makes them all white is bleach.  Meet me in the laundry room and we’ll have a glass!  

bottoms up!

Since the age of vast industrialization in America, edible product conglomerates have been adding various bleaching agents to flour, rice and sugar – three extremely common foods.  Of these three, flour is the most widely utilized ingredient and therefore warrants much of my attention.

Flour is enhanced (using that word extremely loosely) with these chemicals not only to improve rising capacities and structural integrity, but also to make bread appear more “pretty” on the shelves, because typical flour is tinged yellow after the milling process.   There’s nothing like putting Americans’ quality of life at risk for the sake of a sale.  Then, because this flour is so hopped up on chemical additives and produced with a “profit” in mind instead of “people,” it is stripped of its nutritional value. 

So what are the trigger-happy lab technicians logically going to do in their “bakeries”?  Add the faux-nutrition back in, which gives way to enriched flour.  This fortification process was federally mandated in the ‘40s when it was proven that the newly-industrialized milling and baking processes produced a weak, nutrition-free bread.

“What’s so bad about enriched flour since the nutrients have been added back in?”  I asked myself this question, too.  Overall, I suppose it’s not a terrible end result, but what it comes down to for me is that I don’t want some chemist in an industrialized bakery being responsible for giving me the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals in my bread.  I try not to be so trusting with the caretakers of my food, and ultimately my overall health, which is the main reason for my locavore-ness.  I love to talk to the butcher who just packed my ground beef the week prior, and the farmer who was late to the market that day because he was harvesting the green beans I’m about to buy (which has actually happened to me!).

The final and perhaps most notorious additive is Potassium Bromate (PB).  This chemical is added to further increase the flour’s strength and ability to rise.  Under correct conditions and baking time, all of the chemical compound will be used up.  (Here we go again with letting so many people, so far away prepare our edibles)  However, if residue remains, this little additive can pack a powerful punch of toxicity to humans.  Good old Wikipedia states, “Bromate is considered a category 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic to humans).”  Phew, good thing this country has tax-paid positions to watch over this type of issue.  Wait, wait sorry.  While Europe, the United Kingdom, China, and many South American countries have banned PB, the home of the brave has yet to do so.  Aside: many other countries have also banned the use of chemical bleaching agents in food.  I understand everyone wants to be different, but why doesn’t the US get on board with this?

The king is the way to go for all baking needs

So until it is illegal, we must take these considerations into our own hands and not allow others to decide what goes into our bodies.  This is why I will never allow bleached, enriched, and/or bromated flour into my house, and elsewhere, I will do my best to ingest as little as possible of these unbiased killers.  Read bread and flour ingredients carefully and stick with King Arthur brand flour, because white bread is dead bread.