The One Upside to Religion

Posted by Webs on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 04:54 PM. Read 1273 times. Tags:
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... Real sugar in carbonated beverages.

I really do not care for soda of any kind, and stay away from it as much as possible, but this entices me a bit.  Coca Cola made from real cane sugar, the way it used be.  Something they stopped doing by the time I was 3.  So really I have never tried soda made with real sugar ever.  I know there are other companies out there that produce soda made from real sugar, but with the Coke product I have something to compare the real sugar version to, the corn syrup version.  Maybe I will do a blind taste test and report back my findings…

From the site above:

In April of 1985, the Coca-Cola company announced that it was re-formulating its flagship carbonated drink, which to the horror of Coke fans everywhere, included a switchover to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Soon, the rest of the soft drink industry followed suit, and the classic taste of cane sugar-based sodas became practically extinct. Today, only a few small boutique soft drink companies still make sodas with refined cane sugar (or sucrose, made from sugar beets) a costly ingredient when compared with HFCS — but true carbonated beverage connoisseurs know and can tell the difference, as corn syrup has a characteristically cloying sweetness when compared to refined sugar. For nostalgic Coca-Cola lovers, unless you live in a foreign country that classic taste is but a distant memory.

Every late March and early April, for the two to three weeks leading up to the celebration of the Jewish Passover holiday season in the United States, Coke fans living in major metropolitan areas with large Jewish populations get their Real Thing, if only for that brief fleeting period. According to Jewish law, nothing made with chametz (any of a number of proscribed cereals and grains, including corn) during passover may be consumed — so in order not to lose sales from observant Jews during that eight day period, a small number of Coca-Cola bottlers make a limited batch of the original Coke formulation, using refined sugar. Needless to say, stocks run out quickly and fans of Passover Coke have been known to travel many miles seeking out supermarkets with remaining caches.

So coke is only doing this for a 3 week period at most it seems.  Well, for them to switch their manufacturing process for a 3 week period is pretty interesting.  It gives some insight into just how much soda Americans consume.

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K. Engels United States Posted on 03/27/2007 at 10:00 PM

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Or you could just go to a Mexican/Latino grocer that imports the Latin American version of Coke, which is made with cane sugar not high fructose corn syrup.

***Dave United States Posted on 03/27/2007 at 11:18 PM

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Enough to make me wish I still drank full-calorie sodas.  Though Coke Zero ain’t half bad ...

Bachalon United States Posted on 03/27/2007 at 11:40 PM

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Down here in Texas, most smaller gas stations carry glass bottled Mexican coke. Every single one is made with real sugar. Good stuff when I feel like splurging.

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Ragman United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 12:10 AM

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Bachalon beat me to the comment.  The Walmart nearby me in DFW had the Mexican coke.  Heard that some Mexican restaurants around here carried it too.

Moloch United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 02:06 AM

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Or you could just go to a Mexican/Latino grocer that imports the Latin American version of Coke, which is made with cane sugar not high fructose corn syrup.

Very interesting. I’ll have to buy one from El Dorado for lunch tomorrow.

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Matt J Great Britain (UK) Posted on 03/28/2007 at 03:38 AM

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I read an article about this in a paper over here in the UK recently (The Guardian). Apparently Coke over here has real sugar in it too (unless one buys Diet Coke). Not that I buy Coke anyway!

ethan United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 04:43 AM

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you have to be careful about coke from mexico. I can’t remember which, but sometimes they’re mixed at the store with coke from chile, which doesn’t contain cane sugar. coke also tastes better in glass bottles. but I’ve been drinking the cane sugar stuff forever. totally worth it.

Bahamat Great Britain (UK) Posted on 03/28/2007 at 06:21 AM

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Until I read the article bit, my immediate assumption about all this talk about coke was concerning ways of ingesting other things, I thought suger mixed in? maybe with an extract, not from a synthetic production smile

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swordsbane United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 07:38 AM

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Odd, but the first thing I thought of was “I wonder how much I could get for one on ebay” smile

but I’m not sure about their policy on food…

On the other hand, who would mistake CC for food...? smile

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Webs United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 08:46 AM

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I’ll have to check the Mexican restaurants here and see if they have that product.

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cubiclegrrl United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 10:39 AM

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Or for a completely different twist, there’s always Sprecher’s root beer, which contains enough honey that you can taste it.  Bees are much kinder to the environment than sugar cane producers anyway… wink

Les United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 10:43 AM

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I was never happy with Coca-Cola’s decisions to switch to high fructose corn syrup or plastic bottles, but since I’ve switched to drinking diet pop I’m no longer as committed of a Coca-Cola fan as I once was. Funny thing about diet pops is that once you get used to them you’re not as picky about which brands you drink.

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Ragman United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 02:18 PM

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Funny thing about diet pops is that once you get used to them you’re not as picky about which brands you drink.

Considering how bad many of them taste compared to their full leaded versions, you’ve lowered your standards enough that most brands can make it. wink

Diet Dr Pepper would kick ass if they could come up with some non-caloric syrup to thicken it.  The watery taste is the catch for me.

cookiemonster United States Posted on 03/28/2007 at 07:26 PM

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Alternatively, there are loads of recipes for making your own, yeast and all. Easy enough to get basic recipes for root beer, ginger beer, lemon-lime, etc. and the big thing about Coke would be tweaking the flavors to suit you personal taste. The dominant flavors are based on cinnamon and vanilla as well as caramel, and thus all pretty easy to customize.

What’s more boutique than your own personal mix?

tim gueguen Canada Posted on 03/29/2007 at 12:19 AM

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I don’t have a clue what they actually put into Coke here in Saskatchewan sugar wise(the can says sugar/glucose-fructose), but I do know it tastes different from Coke I’ve had from the US Northwest, and I suspect its not simply a case of the water tasting different.

One of the interesting things about Canadian soft drinks is that Mountain Dew up here doesn’t contain caffeine, due to some old law that limits caffeine in soft drinks to colas.

Confused Secular Jew United States Posted on 03/29/2007 at 02:30 PM

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I’ve been thinking about this and come to the conclusion that I must not understand capitalism all that well. Jewish people make up 2.85% of the US population (the percentage is higher in certain urban areas, but still fairly low). Observant Jews therefore make up an even smaller percentage of the population. Yet, so they don’t lose sales during an EIGHT day period to less than 3% of the population, they can release a special blend of coke!? How much Coke could the entire US Jewish population drink in 8 days!? Sure it is good marketing to accommodate people in this manner but how can it possibly be profitable? And there is no way they would lose that much potential profit if observant Jews stopped buy Coke for a little over a week!

Webs United States Posted on 03/29/2007 at 02:37 PM

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Where’s your source for that statistic?

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KPatrickGlover United States Posted on 03/29/2007 at 04:03 PM

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you have to be careful about coke from mexico.

I prefer to get mine from Bolivia.

Wait, what are we talking about?

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Last_Hussar Great Britain (UK) Posted on 03/29/2007 at 04:05 PM

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Dandelion and Burbock

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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LuckyJohn19 Australia Posted on 03/29/2007 at 07:48 PM

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LH: Dandelion and Burbock

Damn, LH, the least you could do is spell it correctly ... luckily for me Google knows how it’s meant to be spelt even though they had a coupla references for Dandelion and Burbock.

Anyway I rarely drink fizzy drinks so I had to buy a standard coke yesterday to find ours is sugar based.
Half the bottle is still in the fridge. I’ll throw it out in coupla days.

Even though this article suggests High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was cheaper than Sugar this article suggests it may have been more to do with the tax issues on sugar.

Personally, I think Sugar Vs HFCS thingy all had a helluva lot more to do with the US’s petulant attitude towards Cubans and their freeing themselves from Batista; Cuba used to be the main sugar supplier to US … before Castro.  wink

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I’ve discovered that it all boils down to brain wiring: your brain is wired to worship magic or it isn’t, either it’s wired to utilize logic or it isn’t, either it’s analytical of myths or it isn’t.

Last_Hussar Great Britain (UK) Posted on 03/29/2007 at 07:59 PM

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red face
I know. Sorry. The kid was bugging me to get on the computer “You ALWAYS say you will only be a couple of minutes, and then you take AGES”. I caught the mistake just as I hit submit. This is why in the real world (not these crappy electronic boxes) you get someone else to proof- You know what it says.

The eye doesn’t see that much- the brain fills in a lot of blanks from expectation, which is why new visual experiences can throw you. (alternativly drink 1/3 bottle of port- I am checking this knowing I will have made cock ups)

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“Sarah Palin doesn’t believe climate change is man made.  Even George W Bush now believes climate change is man made.  Its a sad state of affairs when you make George W Bush look like an informed progressive” Andy Parsons

Last_Hussar Great Britain (UK) Posted on 03/29/2007 at 08:02 PM

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alternativly

Hey, I corrected that!

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“Sarah Palin doesn’t believe climate change is man made.  Even George W Bush now believes climate change is man made.  Its a sad state of affairs when you make George W Bush look like an informed progressive” Andy Parsons

Webs United States Posted on 03/29/2007 at 09:23 PM

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LH, your quote and avatar rock!

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LuckyJohn19 Australia Posted on 03/30/2007 at 12:18 AM

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Under normal circumstances a regular making a spelling mistake is no big deal except in instances like you chose.
I mean, what if there had not been other people (I was gonna say fucktards but decided not to lest you become offended wink ) who made the same mistake ... Google would have be uselessified.  smile

Yeah, okay, I’ll caste a vote for Les as God.
He couldn’t be any less interested in the job than the current one is but at least he writes back sometimes ... nudge nudge.  LOL

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I’ve discovered that it all boils down to brain wiring: your brain is wired to worship magic or it isn’t, either it’s wired to utilize logic or it isn’t, either it’s analytical of myths or it isn’t.

Psychromorbidus Canada Posted on 03/30/2007 at 01:06 AM

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Back before the Cola wars, soft drinks were actually interesting.  I’ve heard about every type of cream soda under the sun before every small pop producer was shut down due to Pepsi and Coke.  I was really interested in the blueberry cream soda however that isn’t likely to happen while we are getting stuck with Coca-cola Blak!  Olden pop flavours were so much more imaginative than what they are making now. 

The idea about making your own soda pop isn’t such a bad idea.  I wonder what a hot-sauce based carbonated energy drink would be like?  Always wanted to make “Hell in a can.”

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