the mehallo blog. beta.

‘found in an old formulary book that Coca-Cola inventor, John S. Pemberton, was using shortly before his death’

Was bouncing around online and stumbled upon Coca-Cola’s Secret Formula.

Well, Coke’s original sugary, cocaine-based Secret Formula.

Not quite ‘The Real Thing’ we have today . . .

Coca-Cola ad, 1894

original coca-cola syrup, alleged

ingredients

1 oz. Citrate Caffein
1 oz. Ext. Vanilla
2 1/2 oz. Flavoring
4 oz. F.E. Coco
Caramel sufficient
3 oz Citric Acid
1 Qt. Lime Juice
20 lbs. Sugar
2 1/2 gal. Water

flavoring

80 Oil Orange
120 Oil Lemon
40 Oil Nutmeg
1 Qt. Alcohol
40 Oil Cinnamon
20 Oil Coriander
40 Oil Neroli

directions

Mix Caffein Acid and Lime Juice 1 Qt. Boiling water add vanilla and flavoring when cool. Let stand for 24 hours.

In reality, The Coca-Cola Company only makes a syrup – which is sent out to bottlers who add the fizzy water. Originally, one could mix their own Coke at home, using yeast to get the bubbles to magically appear.

I tried this once using a recipe out of a childrens book I got from the local library. Bottles kept exploding. Very dangerous.

Details about the ingredients, Pemberton and his notebook can be found here. Plus, here’s the Snopes take on the Secret Formula.

And more cola recipes here and here.

Formula found via Cover Secret; Coca-Cola syrup jar photo found via The Rocketeer; Making cola concentrate photo found via Cube-Cola; Bottles photo found via Oddee

tags: cool finds, culinary, recipe // 5 comments  . . .