Chocolate mousse or caramel cream?
Half of the French are crazy about gourmet desserts, to the point of consuming 6 kg per inhabitant per year.
But do they really know what's hiding inside each jar?
In its January issue (1), the magazine
60 millions de consommateurs
assessed the nutritional quality of 50 products, from chocolate mousse to vanilla and caramel creams, to vegetable desserts.
And the conclusions are far from glowing.
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Too many additives and sugar
Still many brands are moving away from the original recipe and even extending the list of ingredients. For chocolate mousse, sometimes the addition of milk replaces the presence of eggs (which are the main ingredients with chocolate), as at La Laitière. To counteract this absence, the use of emulsifiers and texturizers is legion. At the top of the additives used, modified starch, carrageenans appear in some twenty references - all categories combined - and gelatin for half of the chocolate mousse analyzed. As a reminder, their harmful impact on intestinal well-being and chronic inflammatory bowel disease has been reported by several scientific studies.
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The same goes for crème caramel, whose amber liquid yet so easy to cook (water + sugar), is sometimes obtained from seven ingredients including processed sugars (glucose syrup, fructose or even pectins).
Overall, these and vanilla desserts are rated too sweet by the magazine, with average levels ranging between 15.7g and 18.2g per serving, or more than a third of the recommended daily allowance ( 100 g) by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES).
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Among the good students, Bonne Maman's desserts are successful thanks to their "very artisanal composition", just like the La Fermière chocolate mousse, the Bourbon Invitation à la ferme organic vanilla cream, or the Mon caramel cream. organic gourmet.
A dessert rich ... in water?
Privileged by lactose intolerant and vegans, plant-based desserts are not spared by the magazine's study.
60 million consumers
reproach them in particular for a surprising richness in water, adding up to more than 75% for the pleasure soy chocolate dessert of the Milsa (Aldi) brand.
What explains, say our colleagues, the use of certain brands to flavorings and additives, such as acidity correctors (calcium citrate, lemon juice or citric acid) or acidifiers, to make them more appetizing.
However, when consumed in high doses, they can affect dental health or cause kidney problems, the authors state.
Fifteen gluten-free, milk-free or egg-free recipes
Coconut macaroon brownies
See the recipe for coconut macaroon brownies »
Photo Bernhard Winkelmann / Madame Figaro - Directed by Michèles Carles and Karine Révillon
Gluten-free orange-choco brioche
See the recipe for the gluten-free chocolate-orange brioche.
Photo Sweet-Salty
Ice cream cucumber soup with coconut milk by Eric Fréchon
Eric Fréchon's recipe for iced cucumber soup with coconut milk.
DP Epicure
Rice pudding with coconut milk
See the recipe for rice pudding with coconut milk »
Photo Bernhard Winkelmann - Directed by Michèle Carles and Karine Révillon
Fresh almond milk
Recipe by Nadia Sammut: quinoa tagliatelle with bottarga
Sautéed vegetables with tofu
Pissaladière
sea bream and chickpea tartare
Pasta For Vegetables
Gluten free bread with poppy seeds and flowers
Gluten free blinis
Quinoa Chicken Salad
Thai vermicelli soup
Gluten-free chocolate fondant
Quinoa with herbs
See the slideshow
16 photos
No reference in the "very good" category
If the sweet tooth cannot do without a chocolate or vanilla sweetness for dessert,
60 million consumers
nevertheless call for moderation. Indeed, although they contain little or no additives, traditional and more "natural" recipes, such as Marie Morin and Grandeur Nature mousses, are against all expectations the most caloric. "No reference from our sample falls into the" very good "category, which we have defined as being less than 40 kcal per individual jar", sums up the media, recalling that dairy desserts are not part of the two dairy products recommended by day by Public Health France. Conclusion: at the end of the meal, we will turn more to plain yogurts or… fruit.
(1) Monthly N ° 576 - "Supermarkets: unregulated promotions", € 4.80, to be found in newsstands and on www.60millions-mag.com.
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