Yellow #6, How I Love Thee

I love fall for many reasons, but ranking high on the list with great weather comes this: mallowcreme pumpkins. There is nothing in them that comes remotely close to being healthy, but if I allowed myself, I could sit and eat an entire bag in one evening. When I was younger (okay, when I was in college), I would eat the green stem half first, then the rest. For some reason, they tasted better when eaten that way. I've been wondering (since opening my first bag of the season today) about what it is that makes them so incredibly wonderful. I've done some research, and came up with this: it's yellow #6 dye, aka Sunset Yellow FCF. I'm well aware that the dye doesn't actually have flavoring, but here's my reasoning: Yellow #6 can also be found in swiss rolls, hot chocolate mixes, trifle mixes, mac & cheese, fortune cookies, and DayQuil. (How can something so wonderful not be in DQ?!) If all of these wonderful products have Yellow #6, there must be something great about it.

On the flipside of it's grandness, I learned that it can cause extreme hyperactivity in children, and has been banned in Norway and Finland. Now I know why my mom wouldn't ever let me have any growing up.

Here's to you, my mallowcreme friend.