But HFCS isn’t really prevalent in actual home cooking. (I’m just lumping straight corn syrup in here for simplicity sake.) There are a few things that explicitly call for it, like pecan pie. Really there are specific advantages to using corn syrup, like better moisture retention and less crystallization of sugar in the finished product. So for things like a pecan pie or a frosting it makes sense (and even in the case of frosting you are using a very small ration of real sugar to syrup).
The problem is the fact that all those nice qualities have been exploited by your big food chemical labs which is why you see it in everything. That and it’s cheaper than real sugar. Sure 50 years ago we didn’t eat that much HFCS, at the same time we didn’t have nearly the selection of pre-made processed foods we have today. It’s great for shelf stable food with more than a year life span.
