A myth exposed

[Poly Hive]

I came across a comment that some Scots believe jam counts as one of the infamous five a day.

Here is the inside story of how the Scots live on fried Mars Bars.....

A young fish frier has just won "Young Fish Frier of the year" so he is, and rightly so, well pleased with himself.

His business is open at lunchtimes and does good school kid trading. During some banter and most likely some pressure he declares he can fry anything and so a pupil puts a Mars Bar on the counter and says ....

So he does. And a wee craze is born. Harmless so far aye?

Then the MEDIA get wind and off it goes. Like all or most media stories truth is on one track media on the other and the rails go off into the distance never to meet.

Headlines: "Scots live on fried Mars Bars" Aye right.

If you have never encountered what you know to be true meeting the media you probably dinna recognise this but in time you will encounter it and lo... the scales will fall.

PH

[Biggsy]

Anyway, smellyway...  Not all of the good micro-nutrients in fruit are destroyed by heat, so why not count jam as one of your five a day?  I do!  Tomato ketchup as well.

[hellymedic]

Heinz tomato ketchup may be 143% tomato but to eat the equivalent of an 80g potion of tomato, you'd need loadsa ketchup!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I used to work with a doctor who had spent some time working in Dundee with the "failure to thrive" kids. He spent a lot of time working with the parents, telling them about five-a-day and encouraging them to give the children at least one more portion of fruit/veg than they were currently doing. Reviewing them a few months later, no change. After some investigation, he had to explain that tinned spaghetti hoops in tomato sauce don't count...

[Biggsy]

Since most tomato weight is water, I probably have more than one tomato (without the water) with every generous serving of ketchup.  I appreciate it contains little vitamin C, though, and too much sugar and salt and acid.

I count honey as one of my five a day as well.  Well it has got something to do with flowers, innit?

[Vince]

Heinz tomato ketchup may be 143% tomato but to eat the equivalent of an 80g potion of tomato , you'd need loadsa ketchup!

And the problem with this is? (apart from the fact that Heinz now use celery as an ingredient, to which Mrs Wunja is allergic.)

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's probably a myth that chocolate is an official 1 of 5 in the USA, but there must be more fruit in most jam than cocoa in most chocolate.

[tiermat]

Since most tomato weight is water, I probably have more than one tomato (without the water) with every generous serving of ketchup.  I appreciate it contains little vitamin C, though, and too much sugar and salt and acid.

I count honey as one of my five a day as well.  Well it has got something to do with flowers, innit?

That is assuming that the tomatoes are dehydrated before being used in ketchup.  News flash, they aren't!  As you point out the rest is made up of sugar, vinegar and salt (in that order), plus other flavourings.  To get 80g equiv of tomatoes from ketchup you would have eat >80g of ketchup.

[hellymedic]

Heinz tomato ketchup may be 143% tomato but to eat the equivalent of an 80g potion of tomato , you'd need loadsa ketchup!

And the problem with this is? (apart from the fact that Heinz now use celery as an ingredient, to which Mrs Wunja is allergic.)

60 grams of ketchup is about 4 normal portions.

We don't eat that much ketchup.

[Pingu]

It's probably a myth that chocolate is an official 1 of 5 in the USA, but there must be more fruit in most jam than cocoa in most chocolate.

Depends how much neep there is in the jam.

[Cudzoziemiec]

What's neep? I thought it was turnip, which I'm not aware of being an ingredient in jam I've ever encountered. I've had far more 'jam' than I ever want to with no fruit in it whatsoever though.

[rafletcher]

What's neep? I thought it was turnip, which I'm not aware of being an ingredient in jam I've ever encountered. I've had far more 'jam' than I ever want to with no fruit in it whatsoever though.

That ain't jam, that's "jelly"

[Mr Larrington]

What's neep? I thought it was turnip, which I'm not aware of being an ingredient in jam I've ever encountered. I've had far more 'jam' than I ever want to with no fruit in it whatsoever though.

That ain't jam, that's "jelly"

(Sings in growly jazzman voice)

It's gotta be jelly coz jam don' shake like that!

(Waits for audience applause not a sausage)

Crisps do count as part of the 5 a day, right?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Cheese n onion flavour count as two.

[Biggsy]

Looking at a Heinz Tomato Ketchup label, I see it has 148 g tomato per 100 g of ketchup.  So it is a bit concentrated, though nothing like as much as I thought.  But I have a terribly large portion with fish fingers, which possibly gives me a useful amount of lycopene.

Not that any of this means some Scots believe jam counts as one of the infamous five a day.

[Woofage]

It's probably a myth that chocolate is an official 1 of 5 in the USA

What about a chocolate orange?

[hellymedic]

It's probably a myth that chocolate is an official 1 of 5 in the USA

What about a chocolate orange?

'Festive Fruit' in our house.

[Mr Larrington]

What's neep? I thought it was turnip, which I'm not aware of being an ingredient in jam I've ever encountered. I've had far more 'jam' than I ever want to with no fruit in it whatsoever though.

That ain't jam, that's "jelly"

Bizarrely, there is something buried deep in the SCIENCE on my Babbage-Engine that keeps changing a Hendrix track from "Jelly 292" to "Jam 292"

[Si_Co]

Mrs S is a firm believer that 5 a day refers to chocolate.

[Efrogwr]

...Here is the inside story of how the Scots live on fried Mars Bars.....

A young fish frier has just won "Young Fish Frier of the year" so he is, and rightly so, well pleased with himself.

His business is open at lunchtimes and does good school kid trading. During some banter and most likely some pressure he declares he can fry anything and so a pupil puts a Mars Bar on the counter and says ....

So he does. And a wee craze is born. Harmless so far aye?...

My nephew claims to have been in that very chippy when it happened.

[fuaran]

There are dozens of chip shops across the country that claim to have invented the deep fried Mars bar. Its not clear when or where it was first done.

Though yes, it is largely mythical, popularised by the media. A few chip shops advertise them for sale, but I doubt anyone actually buys them, apart from tourists or drunk students.

[Kim]

Battered chips, OTOH, are considered normal in the Black Country.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Crisps do count as part of the 5 a day, right?

Someone misread the script on 5 a day and thought it referred to the minimum number of portions of fruit and vegetables that you should have in a day.  It doesn't.  It refers to the maximum number of times you should visit the snack vending machine in the office each day.  So yes they do.

[Clare]

What's neep? I thought it was turnip, which I'm not aware of being an ingredient in jam I've ever encountered. I've had far more 'jam' than I ever want to with no fruit in it whatsoever though.

Neeps were sometimes used alongside fruit in home made jams during rationing.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Ah, makes sense. Although the 'jam' I was thinking of (and it is not jelly) would be vastly improved by acquaintance with a turnip, swede, potato, parsnip or indeed any form of vegetable matter.