My mind races to my childhood, and my grandmother’s farm.  During the summer, I would often help with chores.  As a reward she would make dinner, or at least offer a treat.  A glass canister shaped like an oversized perfume bottle contained my favorite.  The name Orange Slices implies these sugar-covered candies shaped like an orange segment had some redeeming characteristics to them.

“You realize there are no natural ingredients in those things,” a classmate pointed out as we sampled various foods, including my beloved Orange Slices.

Like a child that knew in the back of his mind that Santa didn’t exist, I was probably aware that these fixtures of my youth were a creation of chemicals melded together.  Like a child, I was not ready to believe it.

I snatched the bag off the table, scanning the list of ingredients.  Sucrose, corn syrup, modified food starch, dextrose, artificial and natural flavor and coloring.  Natural flavor; a glimmer of hope to my defiant adolescent side.  So what exactly are these things anyway?  Suddenly my elderly grandmother looked like someone who was trying to poison me rather then nurture my growing body.

An Internet search for sucrose quickly calmed one of my fears.  Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar; something my grandmother used an abundance of in her own baking.  One bite of an Orange Slice and most would agree that sugar was the prominent ingredient.  I crack a boyish grin.

Corn syrup is used to keep foods fresh and moist, and should not be confused with its high fructose brother.  My grandmother would often make pancakes for breakfast, which I would top with Karo corn syrup.  Score another for my inner child.

The San Diego Union-Tribune provides some clarification on modified food starches.  Basically, they are natural occurring food starches that are chemically modified to change their properties.  This allows the starches to be used as a thickener, and is not considered a health risk.  This gives the Orange Slices its consistency, and is also used in jellybeans and gummy bears.  Yummy.

The final ingredient is dextrose.  “If you can’t pronounce it, you probably don’t want to eat it,” my grandmother often stated.  However, dextrose is a form of glucose, and is an important carbohydrate and a source of energy for the body.  Yippee!

Apart from the artificial colors and flavors, the ingredient list for Orange Slices is less intimidating as I realize it is all just sugar.  Lots of sugar, in different forms.  This explains why this treat was only offered to a young boy by his grandmother before heading home with his parents.  While Orange Slices have many flaws to my adult mind, my inner child is satisfied they can be an occasional indulgence.