I believe Schmuck is a Jewish or Yiddish term for a fool. But that was way back when I was a kid living in Ohio. So at that time, it was more simple ignorance then foolishness. Definitely not the more vulgar interpretation,
I chose this word here because I have been thinking (70 years later) about one of my favorite snacks as a kid. It was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (PB&J) The jelly I favored (the flavor) was Smucker’s brand “cinnamon/apple jelly”. The peanut butter was Skippy brand.
I devoured this combination for certainly 30 years or more, long after I was married and helped create two children of my own. But I couldn’t pass off the exact craving to my offspring.
What happened is Smuckers suddenly stop producing the bright red cinnamon-apple jelly product. I was devastated. My favorite combination was gone without notice. (Except for my notice, I assume.)
I have been wandering in confused limbo ever since. At least when it comes to a PB&J sammich. (sic).
Now in my advancing age and reviewing old memories, I had a revelation, or epiphany about the disappearance of Smucker’s bright red Cinnamon Apple Jelly.
Smucker’s still offers an apple jelly. It’s kind of a transparent amber color. Their original Cinnamon/Apple product was bright transparent red! I loved the color! There is a “squeezable” variation of cinnamon apple from Smucker’s that is not red.
However, I now clearly see the light. Neither the natural apple jelly or the cinnamon are “naturally” bright red! The original product was heavily dosed with an “artificial” (non apple or cinnamon) red color dye to create the red jelly color displayed.
I have no way of knowing what foreign material was used for the color additive. Smucker’s certainly must have pulled the product off the market for this color “ingredient” reason. Not being “all natural” ingredients (even though the color pigment may have been natural material) It was neither apple or cinnamon.
We are all trained schmucks for thinking all cinnamon = red. Cinnamon’s real color is much darker and brownish. But product marketers have been fooling us for years. It’s a type of expectation conditioning.
Candies and artificial cinnamon flavors are dyed bright red (like Red Hots or Atomic Fireballs) to visually signal the intense, spicy-hot “burning” sensation caused by high concentrations of cinnamaldehyde and Capsaicin on the tongue.
My current thinking is there may have been some Smucker’s corporate decision to remove products that were not totally “natural” from their product line. Goodbye bright red Cinnamon Apple Jelly
It didn’t kill me or make me sick. (yet) errrp! XXX…