original coke

Does anyone know where in the Chicago area/burbs you can get the original coke (with the cane suger) flavoring? I know that in the mexican grocery stores they tend to carry it. Thanks

Well, if Mexican Coke is what you're looking for, you're in luck, for indeed there are probably hundreds of places -- groceries, bodegas, carnicerias -- around town that carry that. All you have to do is go to one of the many Mexican neighbourhoods around the city.

Antonius

Hi,

For passover, there is a limited edition quantity of Coke make with cane sugar, which is made in the USA.

Brschwartz,

As Antonius said, almost any Mexican grocer will have Coke bottled in Mexico, which traditionally has been made with cane sugar, instead of high-fructose corn syrup. I read somewhere recently, however, that there have been moves away from cane sugar in Mexican bottling companies, so that Mexican Coke may not necessarily get you the cane sugar you think you're paying a premium for. Can't remember where I read that, though.

If, by "original Coke," you mean the original recipe, that's harder to get. The only place I know of that has it is Ifs, Ands, & Butts, which has a retail location in Dallas, but also does mail order. For a list of the rare, imported, and discontinued sodas they carry, see this link. The original recipe Coke is imported from Holland.

Scott

My local White Hen Pantry (at Central & Ewing in Evanston) carries Mexican formula Coke.

It's well worth the extra cost IMHO.... I did a side-by side comparison a few weeks back when I discovered that they carried it.

If Dutch Coke is the original recipe (as Ifs Ands & Butts indicates), then I've had it.

It can also be ordered online at: http://popsoda.com/coccolfromho.html (where I got a bottle) for the absurdly high, but perhaps cheaper than IA&B, price of $1.79 for a 7oz bottle.

I thought the real original recipe included cocaine.

nr706 wrote:I thought the real original recipe included cocaine.

Right you are, according to Snopes

Still does contain extracts of coca leaves which have been de-narcotized. I think the Straight Dope had something on this... (pause for quick web search)... yup, here it is

ChiNOLA wrote:

nr706 wrote:I thought the real original recipe included cocaine.

Right you are, according to Snopes

And at a $1.79 for 7 oz. that would be quite a bargain!

HI,

Corn syrup producers have been lobbying for access to the Mexican market as discussed here.

You can purchase pure cola syrup at the Vermont Country Store.

Taqueria Puebla carries "mexican Coke". It's a great accompaniment to one of their cemitas.

HI,

I was about to state I recall pure Cola syrup was once used for upset stomachs. I read the link to find that is what it's recommended for. My Aunt is a nurse who used to add salt to her Coke when her stomach was upset. I tried it once and wasn't too impressed, though it worked for her.

Has anyone done do-it-yourself syrup-soda water mix? Did it remind you of Coca Cola or generic Colas? I've never liked off-brand Cola's, there is something missing. When offered, then water is the next best choice.

I don't know about that website's claim that you can't find cola syrup anymore. Osco sells at least two brands, their own and one that, if you read the fine print, is Coca-Cola. It's in the upset stomach section. There is really not much one can do about nausea. Cola syrup is still what the Drs. mostly recommend 100 years later, though it doesn't do much IME.

I'm also not sure what "pure" cola syrup is. I assume it is a mixture of things, same as Coca Cola syrup, including cola extracts and lots of sugar.

Oh, I went back and looked at the site. Corn syrup, preservatives, and flavoring in and olde-fashionedy medicine bottle. Ten bucks.

brschwartz wrote:Does anyone know where in the Chicago area/burbs you can get the original coke (with the cane suger) flavoring? I know that in the mexican grocery stores they tend to carry it. Thanks

I don't know if it's the "original coke" you're looking for, but if you want coke made with cane sugar versus corn syrup, you can also get it at Trader Joe's. I forget what the brand is, but it starts with a "B," and you can buy individual bottles, which are located next to the dairy section. They also have ginger ale and black cherry soda.

Boylan's, maybe? Or Blenheim?

Neither is coke, or coke's original recipe.. it's just another cola..

JeffB wrote:Oh, I went back and looked at the site. Corn syrup, preservatives, and flavoring in and olde-fashionedy medicine bottle. Ten bucks.

I think all pop, except for the natural sodas at stores like Whole Foods, has food coloring, preservatives and additives.

Bleinham is a different product altogether. It is a very hot and spicy ginger ale produced in North Carolina.

Blenheim Ginger Ale is produced across the border in South Carolina, just for the record.

Whe I visited Ifs Ands & Butts, the owner told me that even though the stuck on paper label on Mexican Coke label says it is made with corn syrup, it really isn't. It has something to do with import laws and the corn lobby.

SteveZ wrote:Whe I visited Ifs Ands & Butts, the owner told me that even though the stuck on paper label on Mexican Coke label says it is made with corn syrup, it really isn't. It has something to do with import laws and the corn lobby.

Yeah, I have heard the same. I have also heard there is indeed corn syrup present. No doubt about it, the corn lobby is very much trying to influence this, which I linked to somewhere above.

Sugar is cheaper abroad, which is why a lot of candy operations in the USA are shifting operations outside of this country. The tariffs to preserve the US domestic sugar industry is not trivial either. Our domestic sugar is overpriced and competition from abroad is essentially blocked. If there were cheaper sugar sources, would Coke return to a cane sugar sweetener? This would affect the corn industry, who probably supports the sugar import tariffs. Yet the corn lobby want Mexico to drop their tariffs blocking corn syrup market penetration due to high costs.

This is an export-import-domestic balancing act and dance which is both puzzling and contradictory.

Cathy2's analysis of the sugar pricing situation is spot on. The sugar lobby has very little influence in the United States due to very few growers in a handful of states. However, corn growing and corn refining are big. The corn sweetener business would be a lot smaller without sugar prices that are artificially inflated by tariffs and quotas. Most editorial writers are clueless on this count and seem to believe nonsense about the not-so-powerful sugar lobby.

Mexican sugar production is substantial while corn refining is fairly modest. Consequently, government treatment of corn refiners makes a convenient political pressure point in Mexican versus United States relations. The whole business is more politics than economics.

Has anyone seen Passover Coke on supermarket shelves yet? I live in the northern suburbs, but I haven't been able to find any in Skokie or Evanston yet.

Dumb question: how do you know if it's Passover coke? Is it marked on the label? I envision myself reading the ingredient labels of hundreds of bottles of soda at Jewel...

Before Passover, the Kosher-for-Passover Coke (and Pepsi) will be in the section of special Passover foods. Typically, most supermarkets carry 2-liter bottles. You can sometimes find cans at kosher specialty stores.

In Chicago, the bottle caps will be marked with the triangular CRC logo of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and it will say P05 or Passover 2005 somewhere. On cans, this is sometimes on the can and sometimes only on the flats.

Usually, the Passover Coke costs more than regular Coke.

However, at regular markets, after Passover, any k-f-p Coke left usually gets mixed in with the regular product on shelves, so if you're sharp-eyed and lucky, you can find it at regular price.

If your supermarket doesn't have a fairly good stock of other Passover products, you probably won't find the Coke, either.

By the way, not only does the sweetener change, the carbon dioxide does, too. It has to be made from nongrain sources. I rabbi I once spoke to about this said, "Well, you may say it's just a gas, but I ask you, would you drink Coca-Cola without that gas?"

I realize it is too late for this year, one method of identifying kosher Coke is from the transfer box as well as markings on the cans themselves:

If you ever need to check whether something labelled as Mexican Coke is really sweetened with cane sugar, here's a little trick. Go to a pharmacy and get some of the now-nearly-obsolete visually-readable glucose test strips that were used for checking urine glucose levels in the days before blood glucose meters became widely available. They'll change color if exposed to corn syrup, which contains free glucose (even "high-fructose" corn syrup is mostly glucose), but they won't change color if cane sugar was used, since that's sucrose and the strips don't react to it. The same technique can be used to catch restaurants that hook up their dispensers wrong, resulting in non-diet pop being served to people who asked for diet.