Take The Braces Off

Here is a question for all the food experts among us: What edible product contains the following ingredients?…

Carob bean gum, guar gum, corn syrup, soybean and cottonseed oils, cultured cream, salt, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, whole wheat flour, riboflavin, gelatin, carrageenan, cheese cultures, modified food starch, molasses, xanthan gum, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate, cinnamon, vanilla, skim and pasteurized milk, niacin, iron and thiamine mononitrate.

You are absolutely right if your answer is “Sara Lee Classic Cheesecake.” For most of us non-experts, this is a mysterious list of ingredients. But to the baker, who is in on the mystery of their relationship to each other, the ingredients are highly intelligible. Metaphorically speaking, cheesecake is what life is all…