Real Coke made with sugar
 

The only time I get real Coke made with sugar is when I'm out of the country. I like the smoother taste that real sugar helps bring to the party vs high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). On these occasions it seemed that the bottles has more pressure in them compared to the US. They "popped" when you unscrewed the cap on a cold bottle.

I alway chalked it up to how they do things outside the US. Today, while food shopping, I ran across Kosher for Passover Coke on an endcap in the supermarket, on sale no less 3-2 liter bottles for $3.00.

In case you don't know what the big deal about Kosher for Passover Coke is, this is the true original recipe Coke made with sugar instead of HFCS. Someone that knows more about this then me can explain why corn syrup is not Kosher during Passover.

Either way, it just tastes better then Coke with HFCS.

I'm happy that I got several bottles of sugar sweetened Coke without leaving the country. I took them home chilled one, and later poured myself a nice cold glass.

I noticed that when I unscrewed the cap for the first time the bottle "popped" just like it did in the other countries.

Do they add more gas to Coke with sugar? Does the use real sugar makes it harder for it to stay carbonated?

Some Mexican restaurants offer Coca-Cola imported from Mexico, whose ingredients label lists sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

I always wondered why coke tasted better in Latin America.

The reason corn syrup is not kosher at Passover is because Ashkenazi Jews are prohibited from consuming corn, rice and legumes during Passover. Living in the NYC metro, we always have kosher Coke around this time of year. You can always tell because instead of traditional red caps, they are another color, usually yellow. It is 10000% percent better.

Also, the Coke recipe is different in each individual bottling plant as is the water, which is why Coke tastes different when youre traveling. Coke in FL is the worst i've come across yet.It is like carbonated sugar water, with hardly any other flavor.

Correct. Nevermind that corn is indigenous to North America, so had Moses found some corn, he'd likely have eaten it. Nothing in the bible about corn -- they'd never seen the stuff.

One of the things I love about living in Phoenix is that I can get Mexican Coca-cola pretty much everywhere. I even saw a case of it at Costco last week. I do feel slightly bad about not returning the bottles.

One of my great joys in traveling, sadly, is trying other countries soft drinks. I love Fanta and it isn't sold in Canada in regular stores, I do find it but the labeling is in either some eastern european or arabic language.
I was in Mexico City a couple of weeks ago and couldn't stay away from the Coke, loved it.

I am in love with the Israeli soft drink, Kinley.

Went to this place yesterday: Galco's Soda Pop Stop, in LA. They carry Coca-Cola made with cane sugar (among many other "rare" sodas), and they ship. :)

The Costcos in the SF bay area are now carrying Mexican Coca Cola.

If you're in Dallas you can go to Central Market and get Dr. Pepper made with cane sugar. I love the stuff.

We've also got Mexican coke (in glass bottles!) at our Seattle area Costcos for $17.99 a case.

Adding an Airport Connection
 

I don't know if it's still available there, but one of the shops in the B terminal at DFW used to sell "Dublin Dr. Pepper"; it's a version of that soft drink still made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

Coca Cola from Mexico, made with "real" cane sugar is available throughout Texas at "Mexican" food stores, stores in neighborhoods catering to substantial Mexican American clientele, HEBs and the "Fiesta" chain. The WalMart affiliate, "Sam's Club" carries Mexican Coke in a number of its outlets in Texas (and some WalMarts will have it).

The "Big Thrill" is original Dr. Pepper, still formulated with cane sugar syrup at the small Dublin, TX bottling plant, rarely available "out of town" except at the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco (birthplace of the beverage).

Don't let anyone tell you there's not a real difference!

Fanta has been available on-off in Canada for a long time. I used to drink the grape, orange and cream soda varieties in the 70's-early 80's.

The Canadian Coke website does list Fanta has a brand in Canada:

http://www.cocacola.ca/fr/brands_brands.htm

I've also seen Fanta brands in the Southeast US quite a bit, specifically the pineapple version.

JP

Galco's has Dublin Dr Pepper also; I picked up some this weekend. One drawback: It's $1.39 for an 8-ounce bottle, so it's pricier than the local stuff.

So if we're all agreed that Coke tastes better if it's made with real sugar rather than with HFCS, does anyone know why Coca-Cola USA even uses HFCS instead? Is there any advantage to it that would justify the penalty in terms of taste? :confused:

Price. (What else?)

Ed

We go over to Mexico a lot for dinner when we are home and we love the "real" Coke. It is SO much better than the HFCS crap which I won't even drink. Real coke is not sickeningly sweet like the HFCS.

It's cheaper.

Cheaper to grow, cheaper to ship, easier to mix into the soda mixing tanks.

There was a piece on 60 Minutes a few years ago about the U.S. government subsidizing the corn growers and then finding uses for the corn. Ergo, high frutose corn syrup and the abundance of it. There has been speculation that the massive use of HFCS in foods has been a major factor in the increase in obesity. The body does not handle HFCS the same was as regular sugar.

I like Coke made with real sugar......hmmmmm...sugar.....

New Coke
 

I have also heard that back in the 80's when coke went to New coke and then changed back to Coke Classic, the reason they did this was to switch from sugar to HFCS. They thought people would be so happy to have real coke back they wouldn't notice it is now made with HFCS.

Dublin Dr. Pepper. I just saw six (or maybe twelve?) packs of the cans at the Fort Worth Central Market yesterday.

Not inexpensive, but the ONLY way to drink Dr. Pepper in my book.

The theory is that HFCS is the major cause of DIABETES, which manifests itself as Obesity.

Right. The problem with HFCS is not only that it is sweeter than other forms of sugar, but also that it does not affect appetite. Fructose adds to overeating because it does not trigger chemical messengers that tell the brain the stomach is full and no longer hungry, like food and drinks that contain regular refined sugar do.

Not that I'm advocating overindulging on refined sugar, either, but at least your body will send you a message that you are (or should be) full.

My kids complained that the non-bottled Coke they got in the US always tasted of flouride.
" That's why so many Americans are fat but with great teeth " I usually replied.

where to get real coke...
 

in CMH or CLE areas??

In CMH, I'm thinking a store near Bexley

CLE, Beachwood...

anyone have anything more specific??

There are a few reasons. I researched this (well cruised the internet a bunch looking at different theories, etc...) and there seems to quite a few reasons. HFCS is sweeter so they can use less of it for flavoring (even if it isn't as good). It also acts as a preservative and increases shelf life. This is why it can be so difficult to find bread that doesn't have HFCS. It is also used a lot in Frozen foods for the the same reason. My sister mentioned to me that a lot of Canadian foods still use sugar. She surmises that Canada still has access to Cuban Sugar and that the US does not and that is a factor. Whether or not that is true, I have no idea.

Going OMNI for a moment:

HFCS are in durned near everything. Go check the labels of everything you've got in your fridge and cupboards and you'll be shocked how frequently HFCS turns up: pre-marinated meats to salad dressing to ketchup to yogurt.

I'm finally seeing non-artisan bread turn up on supermarket shelves specifically labeled, "Contains No High Fructose Corn Syrup."

I recently contacted a regional dairy based near me, asking whether they planned to stop using HFCS in their yogurt and yogurt-based drinks. Given that their biggest (regional) competitor is hyping their rBST-free/HFCS-free "philosophy" right on the label, I wasn't too surprised that the response I got back was on the order of "we can't move away from HFCS fast enough for our customers." I was so pleased, and now I have several non-OG options for decent yogurt.

Back OT:

Here's a prediction. Eventually Coke will cave to some degree on the availability of non-HFCS product in the U.S. And what they'll probably do is market a Coke w/Real Cane Sugar product -- at a premium price, of course -- to compete with the other all-sugar, all-the-time soda producers such as Jones.

Coke was a really wonderful product pre-1985, but this lumbering behemoth of a corporation left me with a bad taste in my mouth (literally) when they changed formulation. I'd dearly love to see some whiz-bang chemist crack the recipe secret on the old formula and start a new soda company.

Here ya go: http://sparror.cubecinema.com/cube/c...stry/cola2.htm

Two comments:

1) I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but Boylan's (no website that I can find) makes a Real Cane Cola product that is sweetened with cane sugar. Not bad.

2) If you're interested in the history of Coca-Cola (and in what may be in the "secret" recipe), this book may be of interest.

Duh! Google was my friend. :o

So, the recipe is there for the tinkerin' -- now who's actually doing the bottlin'!? That's what I wanna know! :D

BTW, the search gods were listening today. Here are a some past discussions on this favorite FT topic:

Drinking Coke - From a real glass bottle
Real, cane sugar Coke alert!
Coke made with Sugar
Finding Coke made with sugar in the US

Thanks for the background on why HFCS is used in the US version of Coke. I figured price was probably the only possible reason - I like Coke, but the HFCS brew is absolutely vile. :td:

Here in San Francisco, our Costco carried Mexican coke. 24 Pack for US$18.99. That's the same price as a 24 pack of Sam Adams. Now I luurve Coca-Cola (pepsi is too sweet) but when it's the same price as beer (for the moment unless the 1400% beer tax increase actually passes), the beer wins!

Besides, I can get made with cane sugar Coke in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. I'm there often enough... :p

Interesting spin on the Canadian sugar... I wouldn't have thought of that, but I have noticed the same on Canadian foods.

I've done a lot of research on the corn/HFCS being someone with a corn intolerance. The speculation on the obesity epidemic can be directly traced to the increased use of HFCS and other corn derivatives in our food making processes in the US. No other country comes close to the crap that goes in our foods. It is going to take a few years and it's going to take a grass roots effort of concerned people (like many folks on FT that I've noticed), but the federal government is going to have to take a close look at this relationship and what it's doing to people in the US, and why other countries don't have as many obese people as we do.

FWIW, one of things this corn stuff does to me is makes me want to eat more. When I get into a corn product, one side effect is I have a day or so that I can't put food in my mouth fast enough... all day. Nothing seems to satisfy me. One speculation about why food makers use these products is to get that effect, so people want more, thus eat more, thus have to BUY more. So, it all comes back to corporate greed, and in this case, Gordon Gecko is wrong, greed isn't good when it comes to the health of this country.

It's true that Canada has access to Cuban sugar, however, Cuba is rated #10 in world production of sugar (in 2002, as per this: http://spectrumcommodities.com/educa...ics/sugar.html ).

JP

Denver Costco has the cane sugar Coca-Cola as well.

I started not drinking sweet drinks (pop, fruit juices) as much as possible several years ago. I also try to avoid foods with more chemicals than recognizable food. Now, I can't eat lots of stuff with preservatives in it. All I can taste is the chemicals. I can't even stand splenda. Not that I'm great with food--I still don't eat enough veggies.

But, I make an exception for Coke with real sugar. Yummmmm.