Sugar

WHAT WOULD you say if I told you that you could profoundly cut your risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer? Significantly decrease your risk for Alzheimer's disease, too? And, better yet, that you could do all this without spending a single dime? Impossible, right? Wrong. All that and more may be possible simply by following the sage advice of Dr. Michael Mosley, a British medical journalist and co-author of The FastDiet: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting . The "Fast Diet" is all the rage in Britain and could take flight here as well.

Betty Dudas is 81 years old, and she's covered in powdered sugar. She scratches at her skin, because the sugary coat makes her itch. As she wipes her hands on her blue apron, she leaves a trail of white. She looks down and flicks away the sticky stuff under her fingernails. It's hard to tell where her gray hair ends and the sugar begins. That's what happens when you powder more than 70,000 doughnuts in six days for the Kimberton Community Fair, where the Firemen's Auxiliary is churning out doughnuts as if they were dollar bills.

Announcements of new medical findings or miracle drugs often leave us fighting bouts of skepticism. Seems something deemed healthy for us one day becomes the bane of our existence the next. Which brings us to caffeine and diabetes. Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center this week said having caffeine with meals has a negative effect on the blood sugar and insulin levels of Type 2 diabetics. In a country with an estimated 17 million Type 2 diabetics you might think this is big news.

Call it the disorder of the decade. You've certainly read about it. You've probably discussed it with friends. And chances are, amid the hoopla, you have wondered if you, too, have hypoglycemia. Why the hype about hypoglycemia? Because it has become a catch-all diagnosis for myriad problems related to low blood sugar. For the last decade, the public has been deluged with reports listing the symptoms associated with the condition. Before you could say, "Get me to a doctor, quick," plenty of people who occasionally felt even the slightest sign of dizziness, nausea or fatigue were convinced that they were victims of hypoglycemia.

Come the holidays, Walter Deuschle would carve an ice sculpture or make a gingerbread house. For special occasions, he might create an elaborate centerpiece or table decoration. But for most of his career as a chef, food-service supervisor, and later general manager at such local country clubs as Ashbourne, Whitemarsh, and Huntingdon Valley, Mr. D, as he was known, let his creative and artistic abilities lie fallow, devoting himself instead to pleasing the palates of diners and serving the needs of club members.

Sweet-and-sour sauces are popular in many cuisines. Unfortunately for waistline-watchers, the "sweet" part of the sauce usually derives from empty-caloried sugar or syrups. Health-food aficionados who substitute honey or molasses for the sugar aren't really saving any calories; these sweets are simply other kinds of refined carbohydrate. A better idea is to use fruit as part of the sweet-and-sour sauce - no sugar needed. Not only do you get natural sweetness, fruit comes "packaged" by Mother Nature with natural fiber - appetite-satisfying bulk - that can help thicken the sauce without adding refined flour or cornstarch.

What: Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Maker: McNeil Specialty Products Co. Where: Supermarkets nationwide and at www.splenda.com Size: 1.9 ounces (55 grams), equivalent to 1 pound of sugar Price: $2.59-$2.99 Splenda is branded sucralose, a modified form of sucrose or table sugar. In use in Europe and Canada since 1991, it received FDA approval as a food ingredient here in 1998. The molecular structure is changed to keep the body from absorbing it as a carbohydrate, creating a product that can be labeled no-calorie and no-carbohydrate.

Dear Polly: Please let me know what the ingredient is that's added to sugar to make powdered sugar? - Alice You can easily make your own powdered sugar at home by whirling regular white sugar in a blender or food processor (the food processor works best) until it is fine and powdery. It becomes even more like the commercial powdered sugar when you add 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch to each cup of granulated sugar before processing it. Store the homemade powdered sugar in an airtight covered container.

There's no more apt ingredient for December than confectioners' sugar, the sweetener that, like snow, transforms whatever it touches - be that lightly or in heaps. Its wintry aesthetics and seemingly magical properties make it symbolic of the small joys of Christmas and all manner of year-end celebrations. It is impossibly white, more so than freshly fallen snow or an angel's wing. It is so silky and light that if a baker isn't careful shoveling it into a mixing bowl, tiny blizzards cloud the kitchen.

What's a mother (or father) to do? A report published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine - the people who brought us the ThighMaster scare - concluded that sugar doesn't make kids bounce off the walls. Many kids, we're told, are just naturally bouncy. Sugar may even have a slightly calming effect on some. So what now? Are we supposed to run out now and stock up on Snickers? Has Halloween come early for millions of children? Don't count on it. Whether you're a wheat-germ-and-brown-rice fanatic or you believe a Twinkie a day keeps the blues away, one study isn't likely to change your mind about sugar.

WASHINGTON - Despite the efforts of senators from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a bid to phase out a Depression-era federal price-support program for sugar failed in the Senate on Wednesday. The 54-45 vote came on an amendment to the farm bill. Sens. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) had argued, among other concerns, that the supports raise costs for candymakers such as Hershey and Mars, strong presences in their states. "For every job that we save among sugar producers, we lose three jobs among companies that manufacture with sugar," Toomey said on the Senate floor.

On North Delaware Avenue, one big real estate project - the SugarHouse Casino expansion - got a green light Wednesday to proceed, but another development - the conversion of the old Ajax Metal Works into a concert venue - remains on hold. At its monthly board meeting, the state's Gaming Control Board quickly approved a $155 million expansion of SugarHouse that calls for far less parking than originally planned. But for the project across the street, it was a different story. The city's zoning board heard five hours of testimony, mostly on whether the Ajax project near Frankford and Delaware Avenues has enough parking.

Calling SugarHouse Casino "ripe for expansion," the gaming hall's general manager told state regulators Tuesday that a plan to scale back a parking garage while enlarging the gambling floor makes more sense than an earlier proposal. Wendy Hamilton, who has run the waterfront casino on North Delaware Avenue since its 2010 opening, said customers have told her that the casino needs "more elbow room. " "This is a better plan," Hamilton testified in a hearing before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Philadelphia.

LISA VIOLA tweaked a basic buttercreme recipe to give it "a little something else. " She recommends this for beginning decorators because it is easy to manipulate and the consistency can be adjusted by adding water or confectioners' sugar. WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREME FROSTING 3 sticks salted butter, softened 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk or water 1 tablespoon vanilla One 12-ounce bag white chocolate morsels (2 1/2 cups), melted 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar Using a mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter, water and vanilla on medium speed until mixture is light, creamy and pale in color.

THE OWNERS of the SugarHouse Casino have agreed to pay $650,000 to settle claims that their workers illegally dumped material into the Delaware River as the building was being constructed in Fishtown, prosecutors said Monday. SugarHouse HSP Gaming will pay a $25,000 civil penalty and donate $625,000 to the Brandywine Conservancy, a nonprofit agency dedicated to protecting natural resources, U.S. Attorney Zane D. Memeger announced in a news release. "This case reinforces our commitment to protecting the environment by ensuring that corporations either follow environmental laws or face serious sanctions," Memeger said.

SugarHouse Casino has submitted a revised expansion plan to the state Gaming Control Board calling for a shorter parking garage, more food and beverage outlets facing the riverfront, an expanded promenade, and a new bike trail. The city's only casino said in a filing last week that the expansion would cost more than $540 million. The investors behind the project are seeking $410 million in financing to fund construction and refinance part of their existing debt. The gaming board plans to hold a hearing on the revised plan in May, said Doug Harbach, a spokesman.

Makes about 18 cookies 3/4 cup schmaltz, well chilled or frozen 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1½ teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon kosher salt 11/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking) 2/3 cup dried cherries 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 2. Cut the schmaltz into chunks and put it, along with both sugars, into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle.

Chicken salad might be the easiest American salad to reinvent. Here, I've used a balsamic-based dressing because it lends so much flavor.   Makes about 8 servings Kosher salt 2 to 3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks about 11/2 inches long 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives ...

Makes 8 servings Butter or spray oil and flour for coating baking pan 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 8 chunks 1 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder Pinch of fine sea salt 1 quart ripe strawberries,  rinsed, dried, green tops trimmed, halved lengthwise ...