4 ms·

It can't be that hard to reverse engineer a spice mixture in 2022.

ivan_gammel 5y ago
It is not even necessary, since local tastes are different and you need to adapt the recipe.
johannes1234321 5y ago
As we're not talking about small cuts of leaves but some highly industrialized component it is not so easy as counting leaves and mixing them together. You can certainly analyse the flavors, but that won't tell you much on the production process for creating this with all the artificial components. However that could creates some creativity in place and create similar, but different (better? Worse? Who knows) products. Compare this to Coca Cola in Germany during WW2. Due to the embargos they couldn't deliver the "secret syrup" so Coca Cola Germany used some "fantasy" and created (the predecessor of) Fanta, which nowadays is a brand of Coca Cola served in multiple countries (with differeing recipes)
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  Why would you even want to copy Coca-Cola's "super secret syrup" when we already have in Europe several local Cola drinks that are better, and sometimes even healthier? Fanta is now nothing special either, just a sugary fizzy drink with orange flavoring that can be done better by other local companies. Coca Cola is just a branding and marketing juggernaut at this point, but their drinks themselves are easily replaceable by better local alternatives at any time. Come to think of it, banning Coca-Cola could actually be a health benefit for the population lol. I remember that in Mexico there are poor villages addicted to Coca-Cola where the company uses local water to make the drinks and the villagers have no access to clean tap water and have obesity and diabetes from all the coke they drink, and all is sponsored buy the Coca-Cola and their lobbying. Absolutely disgusting.
  - johannes1234321 5y ago
    That's orthogonal to the discussion. Fact is that local branches can survive with some form of pivot if their owner can deliver a core component for the product.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- throwaway48375 5y ago
  So we don't have the technology to analyze chemical components of things? I still find that hard to believe.
  - johannes1234321 5y ago
    You can analyze components, but that doesn't give you a process to recreate in scale. Many aromas and stuff are remainders of some Enzym processing things or some chemical reaction where the initial ingredient is dissolved. I myself spend some time in bread and a part of the taste of bread comes from my bacteria/yeast culture growing here at my place, feeding of stuff which is in the air at my place. If i go elsewhere that already changes to a small degree. If I vary temperature, humidity of air ... this has impact. On industrial scale the impacts are way more as they use processes to ensure the end product stays as much the same as possible independently from changes to ingredients (natural products change with each harvest ...) and where it is processed further (a Big Mac is, by McD, supposed to be as equal lgibally as possible) this is done by having Enzyms, chemicals and other comments doing their work.
    - throwaway48375 5y ago
      Yes I agree living things like bacteria/yeast cultures are hard to get right. In regards to your previous example you can get the blend of leaves right, but if the plants aren't genetically identical or even aren't grown in the exact same climate the end product may taste very different. When it comes to completely artificial flavorings though it would seem to me that it would be much simpler. For example isoamyl acetate is isoamyl acetate regardless of where or how it is produced.
- trasz 5y ago
  Pepsi is a thing. And there were many more; Pepsi is just the one which survived Coca Cola's lawyers.

It is not even necessary, since local tastes are different and you need to adapt the recipe.

As we're not talking about small cuts of leaves but some highly industrialized component it is not so easy as counting leaves and mixing them together. You can certainly analyse the flavors, but that won't tell you much on the production process for creating this with all the artificial components. However that could creates some creativity in place and create similar, but different (better? Worse? Who knows) products. Compare this to Coca Cola in Germany during WW2. Due to the embargos they couldn't deliver the "secret syrup" so Coca Cola Germany used some "fantasy" and created (the predecessor of) Fanta, which nowadays is a brand of Coca Cola served in multiple countries (with differeing recipes)

ChuckNorris89 5y ago
Why would you even want to copy Coca-Cola's "super secret syrup" when we already have in Europe several local Cola drinks that are better, and sometimes even healthier? Fanta is now nothing special either, just a sugary fizzy drink with orange flavoring that can be done better by other local companies. Coca Cola is just a branding and marketing juggernaut at this point, but their drinks themselves are easily replaceable by better local alternatives at any time. Come to think of it, banning Coca-Cola could actually be a health benefit for the population lol. I remember that in Mexico there are poor villages addicted to Coca-Cola where the company uses local water to make the drinks and the villagers have no access to clean tap water and have obesity and diabetes from all the coke they drink, and all is sponsored buy the Coca-Cola and their lobbying. Absolutely disgusting.
- johannes1234321 5y ago
  That's orthogonal to the discussion. Fact is that local branches can survive with some form of pivot if their owner can deliver a core component for the product.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
throwaway48375 5y ago
So we don't have the technology to analyze chemical components of things? I still find that hard to believe.
- johannes1234321 5y ago
  You can analyze components, but that doesn't give you a process to recreate in scale. Many aromas and stuff are remainders of some Enzym processing things or some chemical reaction where the initial ingredient is dissolved. I myself spend some time in bread and a part of the taste of bread comes from my bacteria/yeast culture growing here at my place, feeding of stuff which is in the air at my place. If i go elsewhere that already changes to a small degree. If I vary temperature, humidity of air ... this has impact. On industrial scale the impacts are way more as they use processes to ensure the end product stays as much the same as possible independently from changes to ingredients (natural products change with each harvest ...) and where it is processed further (a Big Mac is, by McD, supposed to be as equal lgibally as possible) this is done by having Enzyms, chemicals and other comments doing their work.
  - throwaway48375 5y ago
    Yes I agree living things like bacteria/yeast cultures are hard to get right. In regards to your previous example you can get the blend of leaves right, but if the plants aren't genetically identical or even aren't grown in the exact same climate the end product may taste very different. When it comes to completely artificial flavorings though it would seem to me that it would be much simpler. For example isoamyl acetate is isoamyl acetate regardless of where or how it is produced.
trasz 5y ago
Pepsi is a thing. And there were many more; Pepsi is just the one which survived Coca Cola's lawyers.