Mexican Coke a hit in U.S.

[L.A. Brian]

Coke as in soda, mind you........

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002076071_coke29.html

Over the past few months, I've really gotten into Mexican-bottled sodas since they make them with the original recipe with cane sugar instead of the cheaper high-fructose corn syrup the U.S. bottlers have been using since (I think) 1984. I've tried Mexican Coke, Pepsi, 7UP, Squirt, and orange Crush. The Crush tasted the same to me (syrupy is syrupy). But after trying the others, I realized I had forgotten how good they used to taste. There's a noticeable difference. And the bottle designs for Squirt and Crush are actually neat, like it adds to the specialness of it. It can be pricey, though. A really popular store in L.A. for bottled soft drinks charges $1.50 a bottle for what amounts to around 10.5 or 11 ounces. The place I normally go to will give me a 6-pack deal for $5 for Squirt and $5.50 for Pepsi, so that's a good deal relatively speaking. Save the good stuff for yourself and let the kids have the regular stuff (they don't know what it used to taste like anyway). If you're curious and have no soda specialty store, your local Mexican market will undoubtedly have some in stock.

Fortunately there are a few bottlers in the U.S. that use cane sugar. There's a bottler in Texas that bottles Dr. Pepper with cane sugar in bottles with its original design. And there's a Dr. Pepper bottling facility in North Carolina that uses cane sugar in its Dr. Pepper, 7UP, RC Cola, and even Mountain Dew (despite it being owned by Pepsi now). I can get those for $1 a bottle. The labels on these sodas usually say "corn syrup and/or sugar" to leave you guessing, so it takes a little bit of research to find out which bottles will actually have cane sugar. You'd think that the bottlers that do make them with sugar would advertise it as such.

 

[mcsluggo]

Keep your eyes open for yellow capped two liter coke bottles. When they have a yellow cap, coke uses cane sugar instead of corn-juice. It is not advertised, however, and the label will still say "corn sweetener OR cane sugar"

They only put it out during limited times, to fulfill religious requirements.
<someone help me out here: I believe that during passover (or some other part of the year), Jews are not supposed to consume corn, is this true? (it may be some other religion, but I think it is Jewish)>

Anyway, if you are "in the know" you can capitalize on this.

 

[Gargamel]

I went with the fam to Mexico in 86 and 87. It remarked on me even at a young age how good everything tasted there, from lobsters, to street perro tacos, to the bottled sodas. I used to go to a Mexican restaurant during lunch in the LA area that sold "hecho en Mexico" sodas as well. They really do taste that much better with the cane sugar.

 

[quick dog]

When I saw this thread title I almost laughed. It used to be that when you traveled the back roads of Mexico, you would come upon little stores and taverns where they sold soft drinks. Some of the bottles were 30 years old, with caps that didn't match the alleged product inside. The Mexican proprietors would refill any old bottle with syrupy stuff that had little in common with the advertised name on the bottle. Those of us who lived down there there never drank this stuff. I would avoid home-packaged meats and so-called "farmer cheese" in the San Joaquin Valley also.

 

[GoGoGadget]

When I lived in LA, we used to go to a Cuban restaraunt that served a Mexican soda called "Materva." I don't remember what it was made from -- a root of some sort, I believe -- but man, it was yummy yums.

 

[LPKingsFan]

When will they bring back Crystal Pepsi? That's all I ask for...

 

[Evenstar]

the title threw me off, i wasn't sure which coke you meant at first

if it's made with mexican water, count me out from even trying it. i don't normally drink soda, only on a rare occasion.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Interesting the whole yellow cap story sounded like an urban legand to me, but after checking a few web sites of urban legands, Coca Cola, and some blogs then a few Jewish sites aparently there is some truth there. The deal seems to be that corn or at least corn syrup are not Kosher. So Coke bottles a kosher mix that uses pure cane sugar as a sweetner then uses a yellow cap with the kosher K and some hebrew writing on it. Can't wait to check this out next time I see a yellow cap. (Yes I WILL be going to a few 7-11's tonight)

As for the Mexican bottled coke been hip to that for a while. The little authinic Mexican resutrant donw the street form me has them and alot of the smaller markets in the country will have it as well. Much sweeter than domestic coke and pepsi, and since it is imported the bottling companies more or less meet FDA standers or at least their product must (hence the paper ingrediets lables stuck on the bottles)

Any way you learn something every day even during winter break.

 

[The Freak]

When will they bring back Crystal Pepsi? That's all I ask for...

...YES!!!!

 

[mcsluggo]

like I said, I believe the yellow cap coke thing only happens near passover. I believe corn is fine for Jews at any other time of the year, but they aren't supposed to have grain during passover. However, my understanding of the situation is shallow at best.

Any Jews here paying attention? Care to flesh any of this out?

(I first heard of this yellow cap stuff on NPR last year)

 

[quick dog]

That is a pretty fine distinction between corn sugar and cane sugar. I believe that some sugar marketed as cane sugar is really beet sugar. I suspect the stuff is blended depending on prices and availability.

 

[HndsmCelt]

That is a pretty fine distinction between corn sugar and cane sugar. I believe that some sugar marketed as cane sugar is really beet sugar. I suspect the stuff is blended depending on prices and availability.

I actualy thought the same thing hence spending about 30 min on the net checking out the yellow cap story. But sure enough there is Kosher Coke and it has to do with corn during passover... go figgure. We gentiles just don't get it.

 

[monk]

sucrose from corn = sucrose from cane = sucrose from beets

placebo in a pill = placebo in a bottle of pop

 

[HndsmCelt]

sucrose from corn = sucrose from cane = sucrose from beets

placebo in a pill = placebo in a bottle of pop

It's religion it's not SUPPOSED to make sense.
BTW any good cook can tell you what most chemist can't. Not all ingreedients are created equal.

 

[quick dog]

sucrose from corn = sucrose from cane = sucrose from beets

placebo in a pill = placebo in a bottle of pop

I was thinking the same thing, but I am not certain that these plants generate only one sugar. There are probably other minor organic chemicals also. If the raw sugar is chemically processed like regular beet sugar, I suspect there is not much left in the processed crystals than sucrose. You are going to make me do some research.

Internet stuff:
There are a bewildering number of sugars and syrups available in the shops while other types are available for the industrial user. Some of the basic differences are discussed below.

White sugar is essentially pure sucrose and there is no difference between that derived from cane and that from beet. Different manufacturers produce crystals of different sizes however and this leads to some apparent differences. Smaller crystals dissolve more readily and might therefore appear to be sweeter because none is left at the bottom of the cup and they seem sweeter on the tongue if eaten alone. Similarly smaller crystals have more surfaces per spoonful and appear whiter than larger crystals. [Having said that, some white sugars are less white than others: it depends on how much processing the manufacturer applies.]

 

[HndsmCelt]

I was thinking the same thing, but I am not certain that these plants generate only one sugar. There are probably other minor organic chemicals also. If the raw sugar is chemically processed like regular beet sugar, I suspect there is not much left in the processed crystals than sucrose. You are going to make me do some research.

Internet stuff:
There are a bewildering number of sugars and syrups available in the shops while other types are available for the industrial user. Some of the basic differences are discussed below.

White sugar is essentially pure sucrose and there is no difference between that derived from cane and that from beet. Different manufacturers produce crystals of different sizes however and this leads to some apparent differences. Smaller crystals dissolve more readily and might therefore appear to be sweeter because none is left at the bottom of the cup and they seem sweeter on the tongue if eaten alone. Similarly smaller crystals have more surfaces per spoonful and appear whiter than larger crystals. [Having said that, some white sugars are less white than others: it depends on how much processing the manufacturer applies.]

Been cooking with evapeored cane juce sugar for years... gaurentee you you can taste the difference!

 

[NME]

Mexican Coke a hit? It's like the 70's all over again!

 

[quick dog]

If a commercial sugar tastes different than another, it has to have something else in it. Chemically processed beet sugar is highly refined. They digest the juice and garbage present in mashed beets in hot calcium hydroxide, then they precipitate calcium sucrate from the liquid. Then they refine sucrose from that stuff. It's basically reagent-grade sucrose. They add molasses to the purified sucrose to make brown sugar.

I suspect that third-world cane sugar does not go through any processes like that. It's probably squish and boil. End of process.