High fructose corn syrup. Everyone reading this blog has consumed large amounts of it, whether you wanted to or not. It’s everywhere — in cereal, in juice, in salad dressing, in cookies…heck, I think it’s being pumped into the atmosphere now. America’s gift to America’s corn growers, HFCS isn’t necessarily as evil as it’s often portrayed, at least in and of itself. HCFS is mostly fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (corn sugar), and the body processes those the same way it processes sucrose (table sugar). The real danger with HCFS is not in the substance itself, but in the vast subsidies that have gone to produce a glut of corn, driving down the price for corn products such as HCFS, and thus driving down the price for sweeteners. Corn syrup is ubiquitous precisely because it’s really cheap. It allows its use in products it otherwise might not show up in, at least not in the same kind of amount. And it makes sweet, sugary products less expensive, thus increasing the amount consumed.
The other problem with HCFS is not a danger per se — at least not to health. No, the problem with HCFS is that it is, in the opinion of many, an inferior sweetener to cane sugar. Products sweetened with HCFS taste somehow more artificial, somewhat “off,” compared to products sweetened with cane or beet sugar. It’s for this reason that people will brag of buying Coca-Cola made in Mexico or Pepsi made kosher for Passover — versions of the popular soft drinks manufactured with cane sugar, instead of HCFS.
Sensing an untapped market, Pepsi has gone out and issued two “throwback” versions of their flagship brands: Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback. Both have had their formulas tweaked beyond simply eliminating HFCS, to make them more like the original formulation. (One wonders if Coca-Cola will try this by adding cocaine into the formula. Probably not.) At any rate, I haven’t tried the Pepsi Throwback yet, but I picked up a twelve-pack of the Dew Throwback, primarily because it was on sale. I’m glad I did; the stuff is outstanding, vastly superior to the current formulation of Mountain Dew.
Why it’s superior is hard to explain. It’s at once smoother and less artificial than the current version of Mountain Dew (or, as it’s inexplicably been rechristened, “Mtn Dew”). The throwback formula lacks the orange juice that’s part of the current formulation, and that probably affects it a little. But I think the big thing is the sweetness, which seems more balanced, more evenly mixed. The sweetness in currently-formulated Mountain Dew seems to hit all at once, cloying and over-the-top, drowning out the flavors in the rest of the pop. The throwback version, contrawise, seems more balanced, more even. It’s less “zippy,” but it’s superior all the way through. Interestingly, the throwback formulation seems slightly less carbonated — which probably aids in drinkability. And the aftertaste is sweet and sugary in the best sense of the word, which is a vast improvement over Dew’s current aftertaste, which is best described as purely artificial.
Is the limited release of Mountain Dew Throwback going to dislodge Mountain Dew’s current formula? I doubt it, for economic reasons (as noted, HFCS is cheaper than sucrose). But if I were King of Earth, it would be made so — or at least added on as an alternative version, like Mountain Dew Voltage. Alas, it appears that Pepsi will discontinue both throwback formulas in June — just enough time for me to hoard a few thousand cases’ worth. Heck, despite my dislike of Pepsi, I may even have to try its throwback version. And I may need to find someone out there who can score me some Mexican Coca-Cola — because if sugar-sweetened Coke is as much better than American Coke as sugar-sweetened Mountain Dew is better than regular Dew, I must find out — because if so, I’ve wasted the twenty-odd years since Coke ditched sugar, and I don’t want to waste any more.
My neighborhood grocery store here in Tucson sells Mexican coke by the (glass) bottle. Also, Mexican Sprite. If I knew a way to ship it securely and cheaply, I would totally hook you up. But surely there is a Mexican grocery somewhere in Minnesota. Or stock up before Passover.
I hardly drink soda at all, but there is something about ice cold sugar Coke from a glass bottle. I think that glass bottle makes it taste better.
not to be pedantic and parochial, but Everyone reading this blog has consumed large amounts of it, whether you wanted to or not.
err, no. Some of us live overseas. Here in Australia we use cane sugar.
I’m not sure that the body processes HFCS the same way it does sucrose. Since sucrose is a disaccharide, the body breaks it down during digestion and is able to regulate it. The glucose and fructose in HFCS are monosaccharides and don’t go through the same regulatory process. However, I agree that the corn subsidies are the ultimate culprit, rather than any one specific substance. I haven’t seen the Pepsi Throwback around here – just the Mountain Dew Throwback. I haven’t tried it, since I’ve never liked Mountain Dew. But, since they have a Pepsi version, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for that. I’m a good Georgian so therefore a devoted Coca-Cola drinker, but I can cross the aisle for a little less corn in my food!
I am convinced that A&W (my pop of choice at the time) switched to HFCS on a day when I was home sick from school about 30 years ago. My mom would buy us pop only on “special” occasions, and being sick was one of them (I assume she thought it would make us drink more fluids if it were something “special). I drank the A&W and was shocked at how awful it tasted — I remember thinking it was like cotton candy. It was terrible. I complained and my mom said it was probably because I was sick. Nothing else tasted different, I didn’t have a stuffed nose anyway (I think I had fifth disease), and it continued to taste sickly sweet after I got better. I assume that was the big changeover.
Root beer is poorly served by being falsely sweet. I don’t know if A&W uses sugar in its draft root beer (I don’t mean fountain). It’d be nice if they’d come out with a sugar version again.
I find this trend interesting I wonder if enough people will pay for something that costs more that we’ll start to realize what a lie “people won’t pay for [something of quality] that costs more!” is. Not that sugar pop will bring the revolution, but maybe it’ll be a small start.
Well, I’m from New Zealand where we use cane sugar in our coke … and I totally think it tastes WAY better than the HFCS Coke here in the US.
Now, I’ve stopped drinking soda pretty much for health reasons (I can’t stand artificial sweetener, as if it is in a drink, or food, it’s all I can taste, so that’s not a possibility either as a replacement for regular soda), but part of the reason I did so, or what made it easier, was because, simply, soda didn’t taste as good as back home where they use sugar.
If i want to treat myself to soda I’ll find a little Mexican grocery store and pick up some Coke there that they’ve imported from Mexico. Costs more, but it is so worth it.
It really does make a difference.
Also, if you buy “Mexican Coke” to get the sugar-only version, be sure to read the ingredients anyway. The Mexican Coke at my grocery store in town has HFCS. If I go to the next town over to buy it, I think it’s the sugar version — or at least, it was the last time I bought it.
Any chance that adding corn alcohol to gas has driven up the price of HFCS enough to make sugar more competitive?
I’ve tried Pepsi Throwback, and it is way, way, way better than regular Pepsi.
Same. Pepsi Throwback is delicious and oh, so smooth.
Slate had a good piece questioning whether HFCS is any worse for us, in a health sense, than cane sugar. I prefer Mexican Coke and Indian Fanta (drinking Fanta is almost compensation for a two-day plane trip) for the taste, though.
In Texas they have a bottling company in Dublin that bottles Dr. Pepper made with Imperial Sugar. Trust me, it’s a real treat to have real sugar in soda…it really does make a difference in the taste.
Dr. Pepper. A new burger place just opened up near where I work, and one of their things is stocking lots of sodas that you can’t get just anywhere, including that Irish Dr. Pepper. It is very good. Of course, Dr. Pepper is probably my great soda weakness.
Sugar-based sodas are smoother in the sense that they are heavier, so the bubbles formed are smaller, producing a less-carbonated feel.
2 more HFCS downsides: it makes you crave more sweets, and it’s often made from GMO corn.
Yeah, they SHOULD all use sugar again, even if it makes the product more expensive. With the added demand, eventually sugar will go down a little bit (since there will be more people farming it), and we really need to plant LESS CORN. I, for one, don’t mind paying some extra change per can for a better taste and a slightly better planet.
Also, I am laughing at your typos – sometimes it says HCFS instead of HFCS. hehehehe High Corn Fructose Syrup ^_^
Oh, Dublin Dr. Pepper is great. And you can get it by mail order. I never have because a local deli here (Kenny & Zuke’s) has it by the (8 oz.) bottle, but boy is it good.
As to whether HFCS and sucrose are chemically identical, maybe they are — in the laboratory. But in the finished product they sure don’t taste the same. It’s like saying identical twins raised in different homes are the same person, just because they have the same DNA. Maybe it’s the transport process of HFCS that alters the taste.
You know, I think part of the reason I rarely drink soda any more is that I grew up in the Middle East and Asia on sugar-sweetened soda and the corn syrup sweetened stuff just tastes wrong to me somehow.
Oh for a bottle of Mirinda!
I’ve heard that Mexican Coke is actually sweeter than American Coke too — it’s not just the difference in cane vs. HFCS. That’s why I really meant to find some Kosher Coke this year, because I do find that Mexican Coke, while delicious, is a little too sweet and doesn’t sit entirely well. (If you want to try it, often Costco has flats of it in glass bottles, at least in Oregon.)
We’ve been buying Jones Soda for a while in our house, since it’s canelicious, but it’s pretty hard to find the full range in a grocery store so I haven’t gotten a hold of their cola.
Here, it’s a sandwich place and they hunt far and wide for some of their retro sodas! When I was in Spain, I drank a lot of Fanta lemonade soda which is hard to find here although the sandwich place has it sometimes.
I agree that Mexican Coke (which is fairly easy to find in my region) tastes sweeter as does NZ Coke. The Dew always is awesome though I notice it tastes different in both NZ and Japan than here. I remember going to NZ for a period of time and not finding any Dew (though this was a while ago) and then before I went back there, I drank up as much Mountain Dew the week before to tide me over but when I went that time, they were selling it everywhere.
I haven’t tried the throwback Dew yet. Can’t wait! I’ve got to find me some!
“Irish Dr. Pepper.” Good one. Dublin Dr. Pepper is called that because it’s bottled in Dublin, Texas, which is close to Waco, and is the site of the oldest continually operating Dr. Pepper bottling plant in the world. It uses the original Dr. Pepper formula and, for Dr. Pepper lovers, is the ultimate drink.
The waitress told me it was from Ireland.
Bear in mind that the sugar industry is a huge, longtime recipient of corporate welfare.
Personally, having made the switch to diet, I find all sweetened sodas unpalatable.
Over the past year I have switched to drinking pretty much only sugar formula pop (to the point I can no longer stand HFCS versions). Many brands can be bought on-line or found in higher-end grocery stores. I found the Pepsi Throwback to have a more even sweetness, without the nasty aftertaste of HCFS Pepsi. (That is similarly true with Dublin Dr. Pepper.) I found the Mountain Dew Throwback to have a more crisp, lemony taste than HCFS Mtn Dew. I hope that both Throwbacks are continued. Even better would be sugar formula versions in glass bottles!
I wanna try it but I can’t have any caffeine for a while.