The taste difference between US-bottled Coke and Mexican Coke is very pronounced. There's a locally made non-hfcs root beer that is fantastic. Maybe less sweet, but I find that the 'sweet' emphasis is to the exclusion of other flavors. The HFCS sweetness overpowers everything else.

So less sweet, perhaps, but I bet you'd get used to it very quickly and fins the old taste way too sweet.

I make peanut brittle with Lyle's Golden Syrup (a British syrup). It's a little darker than clear syrup, but not as dark as dark syrup, and made with CANE SUGAR SYRUP. It also has a pleasant "buttery" taste to it. It's expensive, but for a couple batches of peanut brittle at Christmas, it's worth it.

For dark syrup I use Steen's 100% Pure Cane Syrup.

-Grainlady

BTW The opinions regarding the link between obesity and high fructose corn syrup seem to be swinging back. The AMA came out and said "HFCS does not contribute to obesity than suger or other caloric sweetener". Other groups concur. Of course overdoing any food is unhealthy. Here is the link to a recent article.There is also an article in the NYTimes in 06 if you care to google.

Here is a link that might be useful: TIME article

I was thinking about this and I wonder if anyone else thinks there is a mouth-feel difference in the sodas that are sugar vs HFCS? I simply do not drink sweetened beverages except for a non-HFCS-root beer about once a year, but I was shocked at how light and refreshing on the tongue it is vs the HFCS type of soda.

Anyone else?

The medical community seems to always be finding new information and changing their minds. I have no idea what will be what in the future so I have opted to try, without going overboard, to look for more simplified ingredient lists.
For me that's "sugar", 1 word, 5 letters, something I understand vs.
"high fructose corn syrup" which is 4 words, way more letters and I had to look in up on intellipedia.
So I look for sugar (or no sugar). Which made jams and jellies practically impossible (and I will always miss Welches Grape Jam).
I finally found one that both has the fruit listed first and sugar, then pectin - and thats it, though it is stocked irregularly. Its Swedish! one flavor.

As someone who eats lots of processed foods, I do believe your palate or tongue gets used to and then craves certain things - for me mostly salt. So much processed food has tons of salt! And I'm used to that and like it - but my mother goes nuts when I cook her Smoky Links and complains about all the salt.
I suspect it will be as the others say with your Karo syrup.

I avoid sugar AND HFCS. Where I grew up, the local Dr Pepper bottling company is one of only two that uses sugar instead of HFCS, and people will travel from Austin to buy it, since the distribution is only for the county where I lived and the bordering counties. They call it "Dublin" Dr Pepper because the Dublin, TX plant also uses sugar and is the oldest plant, but the Temple plant is much larger.

I think peanut brittle is too sweet as it is, and so I think being less sweet would be an improvement. I generally make toffee (with almonds) instead, and I use bittersweet chocolate to offset the sweetness. I don't like salt either, and so my toffee has absolutely no salt, and I use unsalted butter when I make it.

Lars

Lars, I wish I could avoid sugar. I'd probably lose 5 pounds, easily. And I've had one of those real sugar Dr. Peppers! Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati has a whole aisle of hard to find pop so I picked one up there. The difference in pop made with real sugar and HFCS is remarkable. I've also had the mexican bottled Coke and thought the same thing. The real sugar makes the soda, at least to me, more light and crisp.

Grainlady, I'd love to try Lyle's. I can't get it anywhere around here in the boondocks of Tennessee, but maybe my mom can pick some up for me in Ohio.
Thanks for the recommendation.

tracey oh -

I found Lyle's Golden Syrup at a World Market in St. Louis, MO when we were traveling from Kansas to Tennessee to visit our daughter/family. Nothing like that out here in our neck of the "boondocks" either (LOL). You can order it from Amazon.com, and other places on-line.

-Grainlady