I like real cinnamon on cookies and toast. But cinnamon flavored juju bears, redhots, and fireballs taste nothing like cinnamon. They’re just hot.
Strawberry flavored soda, taffy, icecream, etc. never really tastes like a strawberry. Same for orange and blueberry. Shouldn’t orange soda taste somewhat like orange juice? Not even remotely close.
The cookie part of an oreo is supposed to be chocolate? That’s unlike any chocolate I’ve ever tasted.
TGI Friday’s Jack Daniels sauce doen’t really taste like any Jack Daniels whiskey I’ve ever had. Same goes for the chinese food courts bourbon chicken.
Any other flavors that taste nothing like the real thing?
For most of my life, I shook parmesan cheese on my Italian-red-sauce foods. That meant Kraft grated parmesan, or :eek: some offbrand of the same. Then, three years ago, on the advice of Lynne Rosato-Kasper, I got some real Parmesano Reggiano (from Parma!) It costs more, but the Kraft stuff tastes only vaguely like the real thing. I’m never going back.
More and more, I’m agreeing with the concept that geographic food names should not be legal to use outside the original area. Champagne should come from Champagne, Parmesano should come from Parma. If you’re selling a boxed meal kit, and calling it The San Francisco Treat, then it by God better have some connection to SF.
Watermelon. I love watermelon, and I love watermelon candy, gum, powdered drinks, etc., but the two flavors have absolutely nothing in common. Yet everything “watermelon flavored” does indeed taste like each other. Weird.
No mention of “grape”-flavoured anything? Not in the OP? Not in six other posts?
I’ve yet to find anything labeled “grape” flavoured that bears even a trace of a resemblance to actual grapes – they just taste of tartaric acid and… “purple.”
I love sweet tea. Nestea in a can does not taste like tea. It is a distant 5th cousin twice removed, but I like it also, but strangely, not when I’m in the mood for tea. I have to be in the mood for canned tea.
Vanilla flavored coffee/candles/incense icky, only the most chemical of vanilla flavor.
I’ll toss in a mention of cilantro because while it might taste like something other than dirty dishwater to YOU, it certainly doesn’t to me!
I like sour cream and cheese-flavored potato chips. I can’t see where they even vaguely resemble either. They’re good, and they have orange stuff on them, but it ain’t cheese.
Thank you thank you thank you. My boyfriend makes fun of me when I call something purple-flavoured. It is not grape, and I will not call it grape. Popsicles, candies, jello, slushies… they’re purple-flavoured. And I stand by that.
Fellow grape-lovers, let me offer this suggestion: If you want fruit-flavored candies, look for ones made in Japan. The Japanese green “muscat” flavor actually tastes like grapes! Other flavors (such as orange, melon, and the like) are generally good, but muscat is awesome.
I used to have the same feeling about “fruit flavored” foods. I love cherry Jolly Ranchers. But didn’t think they tasted anything like real cherries. Then one day my aunt was making jelly. She made a couple of jars of cherry jelly, and lo and behold: It tasted JUST LIKE CHERRY JOLLY RANCHERS! I think that many of the candy fruit flavors (like orange) are based on the actual concentrated flavors of the fruit. I suspect that if you were to create a concentrated liquid from oranges, concord grapes, etc (like when making jelly) you would find a remarkable similarity to the artificial counterpart.
In my mind, this is easily the worst offender. None of them are accurate (do you really think you’d eat lemon flavoured candy if it tasted like a real lemon?) but it’s like they weren’t even trying with grape. And it also tastes nasty as hell.
