Dan Abel wrote:
> A lot of people claim that they can tell what kind of sugar is in a food
> by taste, and a lot of people don't like HFCS, for various reasons. So
> I thought I'd do a blind taste test. We had a case of Mexican sugar
> Coke that my daughter had bought from Costco, because she prefers it,
> and I bought a bottle of US HFCS Coke. Of course, I wanted to try it
> myself, and I recruited my three children also. My wife refused. That
> was fine, she could pour. Also, she hates all carbonated beverages, and
> especially Coke, and she has a bad cold. My son P is just coming down
> with a cold, so he wasn't so sure about his tasting ability. My
> children are ages 30, 26 and 24, so they've been around and tasted some
> different things.
>
> I put the bottles in the fridge the day before, to make sure they were
> cold, and the same temperature. I used eight identical glasses. I
> slipped a little card under each glass, marked A or B. I discussed the
> methodology with my wife, as she was a food chemist for seven years and
> has conducted some blind taste testings. She said, "Well, you just
> wanna find out which one they like the best, doncha?". Yeah. So I put
> a card in front of each pair of glasses, for notes and such. We left
> the kitchen so my wife could pour. She called us back. Of course, we
> had no idea which Coke was in which glass. We agreed that we would each
> decide which one we liked better, and also guess which was Mexican and
> which was US.
>
> Both my sons liked B better, and thought it was the Mexican Coke. My
> daughter and I liked A better, and my daughter thought it was the
> Mexican Coke. I have no clue how you tell, so I didn't guess.
>
> We agreed that there would be no discussion until everybody was done
> writing. When we were ready, my wife announced that A was the Mexican
> Coke, and that B was the US HFCS Coke. My sons were a little
> disappointed that they were wrong. My daughter was happy that she was
> right, but admitted that they were much more similar than she had
> expected. I also didn't find them much different, and would have been
> unable to tell which was which without them right together. If you gave
> me one taste of one right now, I wouldn't be able to tell you which it
> was, they were that close (to my taste).
>
That's interesting. Maybe a matter of what one is used to? I
don't consume soft drinks, so I don't know what difference might
be found in this realm.

--
Jean B.