Coca-Cola formula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
 The lists in this article may contain items that are not notable, encyclopedic, or helpful. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (January 2008)
A glass of Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola formula is The Coca-Cola Company's secret recipe for Coca-Cola. As a publicity marketing strategy started by Robert W. Woodruff, the company presents the formula as a closely held trade secret known only to a few employees, mostly executives.

Contents

[edit] Contents

[edit] Original Coca Cola

Published competitors say it contains sugar, caramel, caffeine, phosphoric acid, coca leaf and kola nut extract, lime extract, flavoring mixture, vanilla and glycerin. Alleged syrup recipes vary greatly, and Coca-Cola reluctantly admits the formula has changed over the decades. The basic “cola” taste from Coca-Cola and competing cola drinks comes mainly from vanilla and cinnamon; distinctive tastes among various brands are the result of trace flavorings such as orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg. [1]

To this day, Coca-Cola uses an ingredient from coca leaf extract prepared by a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey, using a process monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration.[2][3] Because cocaine is naturally present in coca leaves, today's Coca-Cola uses "spent", or treated, coca leaves, those that have been through a cocaine extraction process, to flavor the beverage. Some contend that this process cannot extract all of the cocaine alkaloids at a molecular level, and so the drink still contains trace amounts of the stimulant.[4][5] The Coca-Cola Company currently refuses to comment on the continued presence of coca leaf in Coca-Cola.[6] [7]

[edit] Other Coca Colas

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

1. Kosher Coca Cola

The closest formula to the original that can be purchased is the 1935 formula which is still produced for Passover. It is sold in 2-Liter bottles with a yellow cap marked with an OU-P, indicating that the Orthodox Jewish Union certifies the soda as Kosher for Passover or with a white cap with a CRC-P indicating that the certification is provided by the Chicago Rabbinical Council. While the current American Coke formula is kosher, during Passover Ashkenazic Jews do not consume Kitniyot, which prevents them from consuming high fructose corn syrup. Even sugar-based formulas would still require certification of both the formula and the specific bottling plant, as the strictures of Kashrut on Passover are far higher and more complicated than usual kosher observance. This veriety is also consumed by some who view sugar-based cola as tasting better and more natural than HFCS based soda.

[edit] Purported secret recipes

[edit] Pemberton Recipe

This recipe is attributed to a sheet of paper found in an old formulary book owned by Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton, just before his death (U.S. measures).[8] Makes 10 gallons of Soda

This recipe does not specify when sugar, coca, caramel or the rest of the water are added, or the flavoring oil quantity units of measure.

[edit] Reed Recipe

This recipe is attributed to pharmacist John Reed[9]

  • 30 pounds (14.2 kg) of sugar
  • 2 US gallons of water
  • 1 quart of lime juice
  • 4 ounces of citrate of caffeine
  • 2 US ounces of citric acid
  • 1 ounce of extract of vanilla
  • 6 drams(3/4 US fluid ounce) of fluid extract of cola
  • 6 drams fluid extract of coca

[edit] Merory Recipe

Recipe is from Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use. Makes one U.S. gallon (3.8 L) of syrup. Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 fl oz per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 fl oz (192 ml).[10][11]

  • Mix 2,400 grams of sugar with just enough water to dissolve the sugar fully. High-fructose corn syrup may be substituted for half the sugar).
  • Add 37 grams of caramel, 3.1 grams of caffine, and 11 grams of phosphoric acid.
  • Extract the cocaine from 1.1 grams of coca leaf (Truxillo growth of coca preferred) with toluol;dry the cocaine extract.
  • Soak the coca leaves and kola nuts (both finely powdered; 0.37 gram of kola nuts) in 22 grams of 20 percent alcohol.
  • California white wine fortified to 20 percent strength was used as the soaking solution circa 1909, but Coca-Cola may have switched to a simple water/alcohol mixture.
  • After soaking, discard the coca and kola and add the liquid to the syrup.
  • Add 30 grams of lime juice (a former ingredient, evidently, that Coca-Cola now denies) or a substitute such as a water solution of citric acid and sodium citrate at lime-juice strength.
  • Mix together 0.88 gram of lemon oil, 0.47 gram of orange oil, 0.20 gram of cassia (Chinese cinnamon) oil. 0.07 gram of nutmeg oil, and, if desired, traces of coriander, lavender, and neroli oils, and add to 4.9 grams of 95 percent alcohol.
  • Shake.
  • Add 2.7 grams of water to the oil mixture and let stand for twenty-four hours at about 60 °F (15.5 °C). A cloudy layer will separate.
  • Take off the clear part of the liquid only and add the syrup.
  • Add 19 grams of glycerine (from vegetable source, not hog fat, so the drink can be sold to Jews and Muslims who observe their respective religion's dietary restrictions) and 1.5 grams of vanilla extract.
  • Add water (treated with chlorine) to make 1 gallon of syrup.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Poundstone, William (1983). Big Secrets. Quill. pp. 28–44. ISBN 0-688-04830-7 (pbk.). 
  2. ^ May, Clifford D. "How Coca-Cola Obtains Its Coca", The New York Times, July 1, 1998. Accessed December 4, 2007. "A Stepan laboratory in Maywood, N.J., is the nation's only legal commercial importer of coca leaves, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, Stepan extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt Inc., a St. Louis pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify the product for medicinal use."
  3. ^ Benson, Drew. "Coca kick in drinks spurs export fears", The Washington Times, April 20, 2004. "Coke dropped cocaine from its recipe around 1900, but the secret formula still calls for a cocaine-free coca extract produced at a Stepan Co. factory in Maywood, N.J. Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves each year, said Marco Castillo, spokesman for Peru's state-owned National Coca Co."
  4. ^ Rielly, Edward J (2003). Baseball and American Culture: Across the Diamond. Haworth Press. pp. 133. ISBN 0-7890-1485-8. 
  5. ^ Poundstone, William (1983). Big Secrets. Quill. pp. 44–46. ISBN 0-688-04830-7 (pbk.). 
  6. ^ Langman, Jimmy. "Just Say Coca". Newsweek on MSNBC.com. October 30, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
  7. ^ Ceaser, Mike. Colombian farmers launch Coke rivals. BBC News. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
  8. ^ Pendergrast, Mark (2000). For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465054688. 
  9. ^ A Rich Deliciously Satisfying Collection of Breakfast Recipes By Janet Sue Terry
  10. ^ Merory, Joseph (1968). Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: AVI Publishing Company, Inc... 
  11. ^ Pendergrast, Mark (2000). For God, Country and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. pp. 458. ISBN 9780465054688. http://books.google.com/books?id=bSAChoqpnHUC&pg=PA458&dq=Add+37+grams+of+caramel&lr=&as_brr=0&ei=Q0aWSPvsA43wjAGsw6TJDA&sig=ACfU3U00o3bafdRVlFMeZ1VziI-WspuVOg. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Further reading

  • Pendergrast, Mark: For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Basic Books, 2000 (second edition; ISBN 0-465-05468-4).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula"
Personal tools