Play the ingredient game!

Splashing the right ingredients on a label can clinch a sale, regardless of how much is inside. See if you can guess the first (main) ingredient listed on the back label of each of these foods. (Don’t count water.) Jump to the answers to see how you did.

Nutella

Click here or scroll down for the main ingredient.

Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost

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Log Cabin Original Syrup

Click here or scroll down for the main ingredient.

Trader Joe's "This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar..."

Click here or scroll down for the main ingredient.

Whole Foods 365 Organic Raspberry Vinaigrette

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Sun-Maid Chocolate Yogurt covered Raisins

Click here or scroll down for the main ingredient.

ANSWERS

Nutella main ingredient: Sugar

“Hazelnut spread with cocoa,” says Nutella’s front label. In fact, it has more sugar and palm oil than hazelnuts.

A two-tablespoon serving packs 200 calories and 4½ teaspoons of added sugar (nearly 40 percent of a day’s max).

Nuts are heart-healthy, but thanks to its saturated-fat-rich palm oil and its sugar, Nutella isn’t.

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Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost main ingredient: Apple purée from concentrate

Each bottle of Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost 100% Juice Smoothie has berries galore. On the front label, that is.

Inside, you get more apple purée and apple juice (both from concentrate) than blackberry purée, more banana than strawberry purée, and less than 2% raspberry or blueberry purée.

“Helps support immune health,” says the label. Note: Selling dressed-up apple juice at berry prices helps support Bolthouse’s financial health.

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Log Cabin Original syrup main ingredient: Corn syrup

“No high fructose corn syrup,” boasts the Log Cabin Original Syrup label. “No artificial flavors.”

Well, that’s a relief. So what’s it made of? Maybe at least a little maple syrup? Nope.

Instead of that scary high fructose corn syrup, you get...regular corn syrup, which is no better for your health.

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Trader Joe's "This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar..." main ingredient: “Pumpkin filling”

What’s the main ingredient in Trader Joe’s “This Pumpkin Walks into a Bar...” Cereal Bar? The label doesn’t really say.

Labeling rules allow companies to group certain ingredients together...in this case, into a filling that has more brown rice syrup, cane sugar, cane syrup, and apple powder than pumpkin (which comes just before the glyc­erin and modified food starch).

Each bar has a quarter of a day’s added sugar. Time to walk out of the bar?

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Whole Foods 365 Organic Raspberry Vinaigrette main ingredient: Soybean oil

You might not expect raspberries to be the main ingredient in a vinaigrette, but Whole Foods 365 Organic Raspberry Vinaigrette has more water, soybean oil, apple cider vinegar, and cane sugar than raspberries.

Maybe Organic Cane Sugar Raspberry Vinaigrette didn’t sound so good.

What makes it so red? We’re betting on the organic fruit and vegetable juices that are added for “color.”

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Sun-Maid Chocolate Yogurt Covered Raisins main ingredient: “Chocolate yogurt flavored coating” 

The real main ingredient is a mystery because the (multi-ingredient) coating is listed first.

It’s largely sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, and four powders: cocoa, whey, nonfat milk, and yogurt.

“Made with whole fruit,” says the label. But you get more coating than fruit...or actual chocolate or yogurt.

There goes 24 percent of your day’s saturated fat and 14 percent of your day’s added sugar. 

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