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OpenCola

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Re: OpenCola

#31

Post by fzeindl »

safety1st wrote: post #13
Der_Einzige wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coke is still ~40 grams of sugar per 12oz can. That's insanity and a quick way to give yourself diabeetus. No matter how bad you think artificial zero calorie sweeteners are, they are nothing compared to the damage that too much sugar does to your body.

I'm gonna poke at this only because some people take the anti-sugar message too far and use it to rationalize away the stuff that's really killing them. Refined sugar is certainly not good for you, but a 12oz can of Coke - is 140 calories. That's about 6% of the recommended daily caloric intake. Calories RDI is about 2000-2500 for most people. But most Americans eat more like 3000-3500 and don't exercise. You can dri…

> You can drink a 12 oz can of Coke every day and it's not even a blip on the radar.

Only that blood sugar levels also affect hunger, psyche etc.

So no, you cannot just sum up calories in that case.

Re: OpenCola

#32

Post by dbbolton »

Unless you have access to coca leaves, your recipe is likely to taste like generic cola.

Coca-Cola has special privileges to import raw coca leaves. They extract the cocaine (which is then sold for pharmaceutical use). The mostly-cocaine free extract is then used to flavor their cola. AFAIK Coca-Cola is the only entity in the US allowed to do this, so it is unsurprising that other cola brands taste significantly different.

Re: OpenCola

#33

Post by wahnfrieden »

dbbolton wrote: post #32

Unless you have access to coca leaves, your recipe is likely to taste like generic cola. Coca-Cola has special privileges to import raw coca leaves. They extract the cocaine (which is then sold for pharmaceutical use). The mostly-cocaine free extract is then used to flavor their cola. AFAIK Coca-Cola is the only entity in the US allowed to do this, so it is unsurprising that other cola brands taste significantly diff…

So they have regulatory capture to ensure a near monopoly. Terrible

Re: OpenCola

#34

Post by the_gipsy »

dbbolton wrote: post #32

Unless you have access to coca leaves, your recipe is likely to taste like generic cola. Coca-Cola has special privileges to import raw coca leaves. They extract the cocaine (which is then sold for pharmaceutical use). The mostly-cocaine free extract is then used to flavor their cola. AFAIK Coca-Cola is the only entity in the US allowed to do this, so it is unsurprising that other cola brands taste significantly diff…

Do they export all the cocaine-free extract from the US? I can't imagine that they could secure such privileges all over the world.

Re: OpenCola

#35

Post by unwind »

throwup238 wrote: post #26
Der_Einzige wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coke is still ~40 grams of sugar per 12oz can. That's insanity and a quick way to give yourself diabeetus. No matter how bad you think artificial zero calorie sweeteners are, they are nothing compared to the damage that too much sugar does to your body.

12oz is about 355 milliliters or 355 grams of liquid, meaning that 12oz can is more than 11% sugar by mass.

Standard in Sweden (Europe?) is 10.6% sugar. This is printed on the can, in the standard nutrition info table that is on all packaged foods.

I'm surprised this is not common knowledge, but I guess people in general don't read labels.

Re: OpenCola

#36

Post by jowdones »

bityard wrote: post #21
syntheticnature wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was younger and drank more soda, I discovered I could grab a can of coke, pour it into a 24oz cup I had, then fill the can with water and pour that in and it tasted the same to me. If I focused on the flavor it was very subtly different, in a way that felt more refreshing -- but most of the time I was just drinking it without full focus and couldn't tell the difference. Back then I was also packing lunches for…

To my taste buds, North American candy, soda, and other sugary snacks have gotten twice to three times sweeter since I was a kid. To the point that in most cases, all you can actually taste is the sugar and nothing else. It would be interesting if someone were able to dig up a 30-year-old can of Coke or whatever and compare its carbohydrate content to modern Coke. (You can't just use the Nutrition Facts label, becaus…

That's exactly what I wanted to say. Both Cola and Pepsi are too damn sweet. On the rare occasion at the right temperature and amount of thirst on my side I can drink a 330ml bottle and actually enjoy the taste. But most of the times it feels like too sugary so either I drink just a small glass and lots of water afterwards or just mix it with carbonated water directly. Bottom line: usually feels too sweet for me.

Like coffee: I like a hint of sweet in my espresso, but Cola is like dumping 4-5 spoons in a small cup of coffee. Becomes sugar syrup and that's all one can taste anymore.

Re: OpenCola

#37

Post by billfor »

dbbolton wrote: post #32

Unless you have access to coca leaves, your recipe is likely to taste like generic cola. Coca-Cola has special privileges to import raw coca leaves. They extract the cocaine (which is then sold for pharmaceutical use). The mostly-cocaine free extract is then used to flavor their cola. AFAIK Coca-Cola is the only entity in the US allowed to do this, so it is unsurprising that other cola brands taste significantly diff…

https://nypost.com/2023/04/01/nj-factory-imports-cocaine-pla...

Re: OpenCola

#38

Post by crazygringo »

nataliste wrote: post #15
Bluecobra wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A can of coke has almost 10 sugar cubes, it's pretty silly. The only winning move is not to play. https://www.zmescience.com/other/sugar-26072011/

Acid-sugar taste-hacking is something that has bothered me for quite a while. We know that sodium consumption can be drastically reduced by adding salt at table rather than adding it directly to food. Why doesn't this happen with sugar? Why not make desserts that take advantage of the fact that surface sugar will make it seem to be sweeter than it actually is and just have table sugar?

First of all, surface salt doesn't taste nearly as good as food that is salted throughout. Every chef knows this. Not to mention that salting foods before cooking changes their texture as well. This is why a steak that is salted an hour before grilling is far more flavorful and has a better texture than one cooked without salt, but salted at the table. And it's not a subtle difference, either -- we're talking night-and-day.

And dessert basically goes the same way -- I honestly can't even imagine what something like a cherry pie would be if it were cooked without sugar, and then you were expected to dump sugar on top. But it would not be good.

Re: OpenCola

#39

Post by prewett »

jihadjihad wrote: post #2

Ingredients located at [0], full recipe at [1]. If true, it's interesting. I don't have these oils on hand but seemingly they wouldn't be too difficult to procure. According to the This American Life episode [2] where they made a batch, the taste testers were able to detect real Coke 28 out of 30 times. So maybe it's not a perfect match! Still, it's cool. 0: https://github.com/cognitom/OpenCola/blob/master/recipe.mar…

I'd think that a cola recipe ought to at least have cola-nut extract, which this recipe does not.

Re: OpenCola

#40

Post by JohnFen »

zozbot234 wrote: post #23
nataliste wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acid-sugar taste-hacking is something that has bothered me for quite a while. We know that sodium consumption can be drastically reduced by adding salt at table rather than adding it directly to food. Why doesn't this happen with sugar? Why not make desserts that take advantage of the fact that surface sugar will make it seem to be sweeter than it actually is and just have table sugar?

You can make fine powdered sugar at home with a coffee-grinder, but it will absorb moisture over time so the industrially-made variety has additives to prevent that.

I actually do this instead of buying powdered sugar. I make my own brown sugar instead of buying it as well. Both are very easy to do, so I just make it on an as-needed basis. That way, I don't have to worry about storage and the considerations that come with it.
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