photo: tasty niblet
New here? Get our iPhone or Android App to scan & choose healthy groceries!
In our consumerist world, every day is a holiday, a made up marketing festivity geared to get us to buy (and eat) more of something. And so today it’s waffles.
So happy national waffle day!
Waffles can trace their roots back to communion wafers prepared for church in medieval Europe. The basic concept has been around for centuries, a doughy batter is placed between two hot irons – usually with some patterning – and “baked” for a very short time until ready. In the 18th and 19th century each region in Europe had its own specific recipe, but all were based on lots of sugar, eggs, flour, water, and leavening. Waffles were considered a dessert pastry. And then, the waffle crossed the Atlantic ocean and arrived here.“Belgian” waffles became popular in the US in the sixties, and somehow managed to find their way into our breakfast ritual. Although it’s easy to prepare the batter, and even easier to use a waffle iron, most Americans prefer to buy ready made waffles in the frozen section of the supermarket.
While not a health food, there certainly are some waffles that are more nutritious than others. Here is a quick nutrition comparison of various waffle solutions:
1. Here’s the ingredient list for Eggo’s Blueberry Waffles:
Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Water, Whole Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (Soybean Oil, Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil with TBHQ and Citric Acid for Freshness), Egg Whites, Sugar, Wheat Bran, Dextrose, Contains Two Percent or Less of Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Blueberries, Apple Fiber, Malt Flavoring, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Maltodextrin, Cellulose Gum, Citric Acid, Whey, Vitamin A Palmitate, Niacinamide, Soy Lecithin, Blue 2 Lake, Reduced Iron, Red 40 Lake, Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.
ayyyhhh Karamaba! Fishy preservative TBHQ, artificial colors, barely any blueberries, and only gets a C+ on Fooducate (CLICK HERE for details)
2. Kashi’s Blueberry Waffles get a B+. Here is their ingredient list:
Water, whole wheat flour, blueberries, kashi seven whole grain flour (whole: oats, hard red wheat, rye, brown rice, triticale, barley, buckwheat), oat fiber, expeller pressed canola oil, cracked grain flour (rye meal, wheat bran, whole wheat flour, barely flakes, steel cut oats, rolled oatmeal, yellow corn meal, millet, rice flour), evaporated cane juice crystals, contains 2% or less of egg whites, ground flaxseed, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), molasses, sea salt, natural flavors, whey, soy lecithin.
Note that blueberries are listed as the third ingredient. Yum.
3. If you want an “A” breakfast, how about making your own waffles? You’ll need a waffle iron of course. But everybody has one somewhere in the deep dark recessed of the pantry. The ingredients are pretty straightforward:
flour (whole wheat is best), water (or buttermilk), eggs, sugar, a bit of oil/butter, baking powder, salt.
Add blueberries (or whatever fruit) as a topping instead of mixing into the dough and heating. Much tastier!
For more healthy and tasty waffle breakfast ideas, be sure to check out our pinterest board:
Get Fooducated: 
iPhone App Android App 
RSS Subscription or Email Subscription
Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate on facebook: facebook.com/fooducate
