Thursday, April 13, 2006

Coca-Cola: Now With Cane Sugar, Too

Here's something totally out of left field. I told my friend Frank Taylor (who is one of the most prolific Coca-Cola drinkers on the planet) about the Dr. Pepper from the Dublin bottling plant using the original cane sugar.

Well, he found out in the last day or so that it's not just Dr. Pepper. Coke actually puts out a version using cane sugar--for Passover. Here's an excerpt from
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Kashering_Coke.html:
...the formula for Coke included traces of alcohol that were a by-product of grain kernels. Since anything derived from grains is chametz, or forbidden at Passover, Coca-Cola could not be certified kosher for use at Passover even after the formula was changed to include vegetable based glycerin. Coke’s chemists experimented and found that, during the Passover season, they could substitute sweeteners produced from beet sugar and cane sugar for grain-based ones without compromising Coke’s taste. They agreed to start manufacturing Coke with the new sugars several weeks before Passover each year.

That was back in the 1930's, and they're still doing it today. Here's another excerpt
( http://oukosher.org/index.php/passover/article/4759/):
Coca Cola will again be available with an OU-P for Pesach. Aside from the New York metropolitan area, Coke will be available in Boston, Baltimore-Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. This year, in New York, Coca Cola items will be made with an OU-P in 2 liter bottles and in cans. Other locations will have more limited Coke items made in different sizes. All these items, of course, require the OU-P symbol. Most of the bottling plants servicing these markets will designate the Passover Coke items with a distinctive yellow cap in addition to the OU-P symbol on the cap or shoulder of the bottle.

It's not just those cities, either, because Frank found some today at a local H.E.B. They were the two-liter plastic bottles, near the Kosher section, and the bottles had white caps, not yellow, with a code of "OUP" on the side of the cap. The ingredients listed were "Carbonated water, sucrose, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine."

So if you're looking to try some Coca-Cola with uses cane sugar instead of fructose, here's your chance.

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