High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a highly processed sweetener used in many pre-packaged foods. Prized by food manufacturers for cost-efficiency and shelf-stability, HFCS appears as a primary ingredient in foods ranging from yogurt to bread, cereal to snack foods, dried fruits to desserts. Traditionally produced in factories using a highly technical process and list of ingredients, HFCS is not sold as an individual ingredient but rather as an ingredient contained within other foods. HFCS is syrup sweeter than sugar, difficult for the human body to metabolize and often used in high quantities by food manufacturers in order to enhance the taste and flavor of processed foods. The mystery and science behind the production of HFCS becomes exposed through the direct representation and interaction with the recipe and ingredients for creating HFCS

The DIY High Fructose Corn Syrup Kit has a kickstarter pending to fund the production and distribution of more kits to anyone and everyone who is interested in the process of making their own HFCS at home. The Kit provides the user with a way to directly interact with an ingredient that is typically only produced in large-scale factories behind closed doors. The kit allows everyone to be a citizen food scientist and take control of the mysteries behind industrial food production.

The DIY High Fructose Corn Syrup Kit is the brainchild of Maya Weinstein. The DIY High Fructose Corn Syrup Kit (DIY HFCS KIT) begin as a journey to uncover the mysteries of processed food. Often times at the grocery store while reading common food labels one cannot distinguish what certain ingredients are or where they came from. The DIY HFCS Kit is a way to visualize as well as interact with the food science behind industrialized ingredients, it is citizen food science for everyone, everywhere. The ingredient chosen for this particular kit is one that is seen a lot in processed and pre-made foods, it is pretty much everywhere, and it goes by the name high fructose corn syrup. The interesting thing about high fructose corn syrup is that the ingredient pops up in so many foods; from cereal to bread, yogurt to ice cream, frozen dinners to canned soups; but high fructose corn syrup is never actually seen on its own. One of the main reasons for this is because it is a highly processed industrialized ingredient created in large factories behind very closed doors. The method for making for high fructose corn syrup was not easy to uncover, nor were the ingredients, but with a little help from some friends and a whole lotta research and testing the Kit was finally created. The DIY High Fructose Corn Syrup Kit contains all of the ingredients you need to make high fructose corn syrup at home along with an instructional video, all you need is a stovetop or crock pot and I’ve provided the rest. I strongly believe in learning through experience and making. With this Kit and future DIY Processed Foods Kits we are all citizen food scientists armed with an increased knowledge about what goes in our food. Maya intends to continue this series of DIY processed food kits with future kit ideas such as DIY Enriched Bleached White Flour and DIY Monosodium Glutamate.