On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:51:37 -0800, 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).

Interesting. Of course, I would assume I would like the Mexican
w/sugar Coke too. Maybe our brains affect our choices as much as
taste does.

aloha,
Cea