# "Colonel's Honey Sauce." KFC is Replacing HONEY? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659 "2007-09-18T21:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/1 "2007-09-18T21:09:06Z")
I went to KFC for lunch today, and for my biscuit, I grabbed what I though was honey. Upon inspection of the packet it labeled itself as “Colonel’s Honey Sauce.” If it wasn’t for the word “Sauce” on the packet, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it, but that little qualifier made me look at the ingredients: High fructose corn syrup, sugar, corn syrup, honey, caramel color. Honey is the second to last ingredient! Is plain old honey that expensive? Does corn syrup really need to be mentioned twice? Honey is almost elemental, the workers don’t need to get paid to make it, just package the stupid stuff! Why did we need a replacement for honey? I ate it. Since I already had in my mind that I wasn’t going to like it, it tasted watered down, very little like actual honey. Taste is so subjective, and easily swayed by the mind, I wonder if I would’ve noticed the lack of taste if I hadn’t noticed the wording on the package… What other straightforward foods have been replaced by specially designed food-like substances? I know the stand-up comedians loved mentioning the “cheese food” product. Anything else? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/2 "2007-09-18T21:11:30Z")
Perhaps it has something to do with colony collapse disorder in domestic honey bees. Still, I’m getting sick of seeing corn syrup in EVERYTHING. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/3 "2007-09-18T21:13:02Z")
Maple Syrup, replaced by maple-flavored high fructose corn syrup. The real stuff is more expensive and harder to find, but is nearly as economical since you need less of the stuff to impart a flavor. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/4 "2007-09-18T21:19:47Z")
Orange juice and orange “drink”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/5 "2007-09-18T21:21:31Z")
High fructose corn syrup is not, legally or otherwise, the same thing as just plain old corn syrup. And I’m sure that the honeybee disappearance “crisis” is severely affecting the price of honey. If you can’t get any, it costs more. So to speak. Corn syrup will be next because of the idiot farmers who are taking feed corn out of production to burn as ethanol. That’s already driving the prices of many foods up, including ones you wouldn’t suspect. (Like milk and dairy products, since cow feed, made from corn, has doubled in price.) Food substitutes are there for one reason: because you the consumer will not pay the real price of the things they’re giving away for free. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/6 "2007-09-18T21:22:40Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] Does corn syrup really need to be mentioned twice? [/QUOTE] [Corn syrup is not the same ingredient as high-fructose corn syrup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/7 "2007-09-18T21:26:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I know the stand-up comedians loved mentioning the “cheese food” product. This one is much ado about nothing. All “American cheese” is cheese food. If you go to the fanciest deli or highest-class dairy in the world and ask for American cheese, and they give you something other than cheese food, you’re getting ripped off. Cheese food just means that you take one or more cheeses, melt it all together, and let it re-solidify. This improves its properties for some cooking applications, and lets you uniformly blend cheeses with different flavors, textures, etc. It’s still made from 100% cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/8 "2007-09-18T21:32:59Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] [Corn syrup is not the same ingredient as high-fructose corn syrup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup). [/QUOTE] Good info Otto. I probably should’ve looked that up. The honeybee crisis does explain this. Still, it didn’t taste like honey (in my opinion), next time I’ll have to take my own. Damn the price! I deserve honey! ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/9 "2007-09-18T22:42:45Z")
Yes, honey is expensive. To answer **garygnu** , though, I have been sick of seeing high fructose corn syrup in everything for a long time, but Americans refuse to eat anything that is not sweet. Witness the OP, who needs honey on a biscuit. Or go to any thread about food or drink on this board to find people who only consume sweet things, and require that everything they eat be packed with sugar (or sugar substitute). There are even members on this board who refuse to drink water because they don’t like the taste. Is it really any wonder Americans have obesity issues, with all this high fructose corn syrup in absolutely everything? It’s only there, however, because we all demand it. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/10 "2007-09-18T23:07:59Z")
Even before the colony collapse problem, poets and singers have told us the age-old truth. If a fella wants to find a honey, The fella needs to spend some money. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/11 "2007-09-19T00:08:24Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] Honey is almost elemental, the workers don’t need to get paid to make it, just package the stupid stuff! [/QUOTE] In that case, you should be able to make a fortune in the honey business, if it really does cost almost nothing to produce. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/12 "2007-09-19T00:17:37Z")
There is another food product: potted meat product. Yep, Spam but cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/13 "2007-09-19T01:09:26Z")
I’m not sure I’d put something labeled “Colonel’s Honey Sauce” in my mouth. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/14 "2007-09-19T01:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > High fructose corn syrup, sugar, corn syrup, honey, caramel color. So essentially the ingredients are sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, and sugar? ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/15 "2007-09-19T02:30:33Z")
[QUOTE=The Controvert] In that case, you should be able to make a fortune in the honey business, if it really does cost almost nothing to produce. [/QUOTE] I didn’t say it costs almost nothing to produce, I said the workers (bees in this case) don’t need to get paid. But, you’re RIGHT! Collection and packaging are the only thing to it (after the initial investment in the apiary). That’s it! I’m done with injection molding, and production machining! Anybody willing to trade a beehive for a milling machine? Do you think engineering skills would transfer over well to honey collection? _**The above post is being said (typed) with my tongue in my cheek**_ ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/16 "2007-09-19T02:51:42Z")
This is especially rich considering KFC’s latest commercial, touting its fare as “real food, which requires a fork and a knife”. (I was already shaking my head at that one–who the hell eats fried chicken with a knife and fork?) ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/17 "2007-09-19T02:58:52Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] Still, I’m getting sick of seeing corn syrup in EVERYTHING. [/QUOTE] Seconded. And I also don’t want _everything_ to be sweet. Like stuffing. Or crackers. I know, buy no prepackaged convenience foods. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/18 "2007-09-19T03:05:26Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Corn syrup will be next because of the idiot farmers who are taking feed corn out of production to burn as ethanol. That’s already driving the prices of many foods up, including ones you wouldn’t suspect. (Like milk and dairy products, since cow feed, made from corn, has doubled in price.) [/QUOTE] I’ve just started a GD thread on this very topic: [Unintended effects of ethanol](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=437070) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/19 "2007-09-19T04:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] So essentially the ingredients are sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, and sugar? [/QUOTE] What ingredients would you use to replace honey? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659/20 "2007-09-19T08:39:02Z")
[QUOTE=Necros] Americans refuse to eat anything that is not sweet. [snip absolutely wonderful and well-researched commentary, though it breaks my heart] It’s only there, however, because we all demand it. [/QUOTE] Truly, you put Gallup to shame, sir. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colonels-honey-sauce-kfc-is-replacing-honey/419659.md?page=2)