A few nights ago we took our boys to see the holiday light displays on “Candy Cane Lane”.  As we rolled our minivan slowly through the streets behind the rest of Los Angeles, we spotted a neighbor selling hot cocoa to benefit the Eagle Scouts.  What’s more festive than a cup of hot cocoa, brightly colored light displays and holiday music on the radio, right?  We bought each of the boys a cup and as they sat cozy in the back, sipping the warm drink and slurping the marshmallows out one-by-one, I realized that it was probably time to take a deconstructed look at instant hot cocoa.  I was pretty sure those drink packets weren’t as innocent and idyllic as they seemed.  Turns out I was right.

This weeks comparison is between Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Flavored Hot Cocoa with Jet-Puffed Marshmallows and Out of the Box Hot Cocoa with Maple Marshmallows.  Let’s begin by welcoming back one of our least favorite carcinogens, Carrageenan.  As you may recall, Carrageenan has appeared in many of our processed foods such as Ice Cream Sandwiches, Cereal Bars and fruit roll-ups.  According the research I’ve read, Carrageenan is suspected of contributing to gastro-intestinal cancer and has been banned for use as an ingredient in infant formulas.  You can’t feed it to your infant but hey, go ahead and feed it to any of your other children?  Hmmm…

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THE COMPARISON: Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Flavor topped with Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows vs. Out of the Box Hot Cocoa with Maple Marshmallows

(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient)

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Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate Flavor

Ingredients:

• sugar
• corn syrup*
• modified whey
• cocoa (processed with Alkali)
• hydrogenated coconut oil*
• nonfat milk
• calcium carbonate

Less than 2% of:

• salt
• dipotassium phosphate*
• mono & diglycerides*
• artificial flavor*
• carrageenan*

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Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows

Ingredients:

• corn syrup*
• sugar
• dextrose*
• modified corn starch*
• water
• gelatin
• tetrasodium pyrophosphate (whipping aid)
• artificial flavor*
• artificial color (Blue 1)*

**All listed product ingredients are taken from product’s package label.  Though Out of the Box Food makes every effort to provide complete ingredient information, please check the package for the most current information.

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Out of the Box Food^SM Hot Cocoa with Maple Marshmallows

For the same amount of time it takes to rip open a packet of instant hot cocoa, you can melt some good quality dark chocolate into wholesome milk for a delicious, chemical-free treat.

Special Equipment: medium saucepan

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 6-8 1″ maple marshmallow squares (See recipe for Out of the Box Maple Marshmallows)
• 1/4 of a 70% cacao chocolate bar, broken into small pieces or grated
• 2 C whole milk

Directions:

• Warm milk over medium-low heat
• When milk begins to warm, stir in chocolate pieces.
• Cook, stirring occasionally.
• Pour into mugs and top with Maple Marshmallows

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Happy Holiday’s everyone.  Until next week…