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The article doesn't seem quite clear on this: did they simply remove the coloring, or did they add something to the drink that would break down/bind to the colo
by jlgreco 13y ago
The article doesn't seem quite clear on this: did they simply remove the coloring, or did they add something to the drink that would break down/bind to the coloring molecules and render them colorless? I'm not really sure why you would need a chemist to do the first.
- geon 13y agoModern Coke use caramel color (E150b). Perhaps the color used to be natural from the ingredients, or there are some ingredients that are not colorless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramel_color
- nodata 13y ago> The article doesn't seem quite clear on this: did they simply remove the coloring.. "Zarubica found a chemist who could remove the coloring from the beverage, thereby granting Marshal Zhukov's wish."
- jlgreco 13y agoBut why would they need a chemist to tell them how to simply not add color?
- adlpz 13y agoI assume in the original recipe the color wasn't added, but was a consequence of how it was produced then.
- edias 13y agoI think you're answering your own question here. Coke without coloring isn't completely clear, so they hired a chemist to mask whatever natural color coke has. At least that's the impression I got from that sentence.
- roel_v 13y agoJlgreco probably meant: "did they not add coloring [during production]", for which to make sense the color would have to be added during the production, which could very well be; the article probably meant "found a chemist who could remove the color", implying the color is a by-product of the production and comes from other ingredients. So, the article is not explicit about this, but the whole context would lead me to believe that it is the second explanation that was meant.
- A1kmm 13y agoI suspect that if they were only making small quantities of it, they might not want to mess with their working production setup, and so it could be more economical to mass produce the coloured product and get advice from their staff food chemist on how to remove the coloured compounds for the small special order.
- GuiA 13y agoAlso see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Pepsi
- noonespecial 13y agoI'm guessing that coke has added color, but without that added color, its still not clear. It likely took additional processing to make it appear like vodka (the goal of the endeavor).
- rfctr 13y agoThe goal was to make it NOT look as Coke, which was a well-known symbol of USA. The idea it should look like vodka is just ridiculous. In the conditions when it is OK to drink vodka, Russians drink vodka, not Coke. In the conditions when it is NOT OK to drink vodka, Russians (generally) do not drink vodka.
- jlgreco 13y agoWell, looking like vodka is more or less just an exercise in packaging, once you've got the "not looking like something in particular" part down. Maybe you could make it look like some sort of tea if you just got it down to a light-brown color but ideally you don't want to give people reason to wonder what it is. If you were going to go that route you could probably pass coke off as coffee anyway. Clear is perfect for this purpose, it'd either be vodka or water, depending on the packaging. Both are un-opinionated drinks in the right context (6.5oz may be a bit too much vodka to be knocking back during a meeting, though probably not particularly notably so.)
- kilian 13y agoI remember doing a test in high school science class where we poured coke through Norit (activated carbon) a couple of times which would result in the colourants binding to the Norit and the coke become colourless (while still being safe to drink).
- megablast 13y agoDid it taste the same?