“Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele´, and Coca-Cola.”
-Pele´
If you are old like me and were blessed to grow up before we had bottled water and the internet (we just drank from the hose and played outside), then you know what a real Coke should taste like. Coca-Cola, that magic elixir and supreme concoction created by John Pemberton in the 19th century may be considered the classic American drink. It is, of course, now consumed in mass quantities worldwide. Baseball, apple pie, and Coca-Cola – all are part of America.
Foremost among my vices is an appetite for carbonated beverages. I try not to drink in excess, and most days completely refrain, but I very much enjoy an icy cold Coke (or Dr. Pepper, or black cherry soda) on occasion. And, as long as I enjoy in moderation, I refuse to feel guilty about it. I often tell my wife things could be worse. I could be slumped in the corner of our kitchen smashing empty beer cans into my forehead instead.
Back to being old – if you were ever blessed to enjoy a Coke back when Nixon was in office, you probably remember that they tasted really good back then. As a kid, it was a joy to retrieve a frosty glass bottle from the cooler at the back of Englehardt’s store. Coke tasted like it came from heaven. But if you stumble into a crowded convenience store today and purchase a plastic bottle Coke, it doesn’t taste as good. Why is that? And what is about to change? We have good news from our grand orange leader on the Potomac. Real Coke, until now only found in parts of Europe and Mexico (where it is still made with real sugar), will soon be in our stores. This is good news out of Washington. Mexican Coke is coming to America. Here is the backstory.
In 1971, a ginormous sale of U.S. grain to the Soviet Union triggered a boom in corn prices. These rising corn prices then touched off a massive increase in corn production by American farmers. Even after corn prices settled, government subsidies buoyed prices and farmers kept gleefully planting corn. Access to monstrous quantities of corn prompted companies like Archer Daniels Midland to develop new space-age corn products and markets. Enter ethanol (a topic for another column) and High- Fructose Corn Syrup.
To produce High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a “wet-milling” process is used to isolate the starch in corn. An enzyme is then added to the starch, transforming some of the corn’s glucose into fructose. This creates a syrup with a sweetness profile similar to sugar. This development in “food science” produces a cheap sweetener, but HFCS doesn’t taste as good as real sugar.
Arther Daniels Midland had hoped to capture the big soda market with HFCS, but by the early 1980s inexpensive foreign imports had driven sugar prices way down. HFCS could not be made cheaply enough to compete. But political maneuvering soon changed things. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan, along with Congress, placed quotas on imported sugar, raising the price of sugar in the U.S. Suddenly, HFCS was a lower-cost alternative for soft drink companies, and they almost fell over themselves starting to use it. Note – Many credit the use of HFCS with the rise in obesity in this country. Today HFCS is found in almost all U.S. processed food and beverage products. Besides weight gain, HFCS has been linked to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, inflammation, and uric acid build up. HFCS is not good for you. Some have described it as liquid Satan. Although there is some debate regarding the use of HFCS vs. sugar, numerous studies show that HFCS is metabolized to produce fat, while sugar is metabolized to produce energy. I don’t have a bowtie and clipboard, and lack a science degree, but I do know this. Every time I drink HFCS regular Coke, I feel like I’m wearing it around my waist the next day. When I enjoy a refreshing Mexican Coke, made with cane sugar, I don’t feel it.
Up until now, the only practical way to enjoy old-school good-tasting cane sugar Coke, if you could find it, was to drink Mexican Coke (sometimes available in Mexican restaurants and in select grocery stores). With the new administration’s push to Make American Healthy Again, the use of HFCS appears to be fading, which is good news. And recently, President Trump announced that the Coca-Cola Company will soon be offering again in the U.S. Coke made with real cane sugar. Look for it soon. Mexican Coke is coming to America!
© 2025 Jody Dyer
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