# (blank) flavored foods than never taste like the original ingrediant **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066 "2007-02-28T19:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/21 "2007-02-28T22:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] 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. [/QUOTE] “Grape drink: water, sugar, and purple” and “I want some purple stuff!.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/22 "2007-02-28T22:33:36Z")
[QUOTE=29car] Baby oil. Tastes nothing at all like babies. [/QUOTE] You! You better subscribe, you. You are not allowed to post things like that and then fade into obscurity when your trial membership lapses. That’s just not on. I demand that you pay to entertain me. ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/23 "2007-02-28T22:46:23Z")
Smoked Turkey. Tastes exactly like ham. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/24 "2007-02-28T22:51:39Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] I like real cinnamon on cookies and toast. But cinnamon flavored juju bears, redhots, and fireballs taste nothing like cinnamon. They’re just hot. [/QUOTE] I’ve always wondered how cinnamon came to be thought of as hot. Real cinnamon doesn’t taste hot to me. [QUOTE=Hampshire] TGI Friday’s Jack Daniels sauce doen’t really taste like any Jack Daniels whiskey I’ve ever had. [/QUOTE] I tried to find an ingredients list online, but couldn’t. However, I’m pretty sure their Jack Daniels sauce is actually made with Jack Daniels. Maybe they use so little that you can’t really taste it, but I don’t know that we’re really talking about an artificial flavoring here. At any rate, the CopyKat [recipe](http://www.copykat.com/component/option,com_rapidrecipe/page,viewrecipe/recipe_id,997/) for the sauce calls for real Jack Daniels. ---
**Author:** ![29car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/ebca7d/32.png) [@29car](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/29car)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/25 "2007-02-28T22:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] You! You better subscribe, you. You are not allowed to post things like that and then fade into obscurity when your trial membership lapses. That’s just not on. I demand that you pay to entertain me. [/QUOTE] You should have been here for the [matinee](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=410382). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/26 "2007-02-28T23:19:37Z")
I actually like artificial banana flavor. But I agree it doesn’t taste like real bananas. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/27 "2007-02-28T23:51:21Z")
In my experience, a lot of truly disgusting artificial flavors actually taste a lot like the real thing, if you cook the real thing and concentrate it down. Bananas that have been cooked with sugar added taste quite a bit like artificial banana (ie, nasty). This past summer I even had the experience of eating grapes that tasted _exactly like grape candy_. It was bizarre and I never would have believed it if I hadn’t been picking them off the vine myself. I’m not sure of the variety, but I think they were Concord. They were very strongly flavored whatever they were and when made into juice I couldn’t bring myself to actually drink any. This might have been because I’d already eaten a pound of them off of the vine, though. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/28 "2007-03-01T01:33:29Z")
Quavers. Mmmmmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/29 "2007-03-01T02:36:23Z")
Peach flavor is the most vile to my taste, followed closely by grape. My mom used to give me grape-flavored Dimetapp as a kid and it was the worst medicine ever. Even the caustic bite of Robitussin was preferable to that syrupy grapeness. Peach, though, is horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/30 "2007-03-01T03:02:47Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] 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. [/QUOTE] I found the exception that proves the rule on this one. Marie Brizard brand watermelon liqueur. I swear, it tastes like fermented watermelon juice, and not like that fake-o Jolly Rancher watermelon taste. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/31 "2007-03-01T03:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] 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_. [/QUOTE] I’ll second this. I bought a bag of Muscadine jelly candy thingies from the local oriental mart and sweet baby, it was like eating the actual grape. It was so muscadine grapey it was surreal. As for the Purple. I think Homer said it best “MMMmmmm, Purple” Even if it isn’t particularly MMMmmmmy ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/32 "2007-03-01T03:34:39Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] Smoke-flavored anything. Liquid Smoke, et al…just utterly awful. [/QUOTE] Except Liquid Smoke is exactly that: liquid smoke. It’s not an artificial flavoring: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Liquid Smoke is a food ingredient used to add a smokey flavor, similar to what is obtained when cooking over an open wood fire. The product is produced by burning hardwood chips (notably hickory) and condensing the smoke particles with water into a liquid form. The liquid is then scrubbed and filtered to remove all impurities. It is most often added to sauces and marinades to flavor meat, poultry, and seafood. > [@WhyNot](#): > > 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. Strangely enough, I’ve heard exactly the same thing about Elvis impersonators. They tend to resemble each other more than they resemble Elvis 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/33 "2007-03-01T04:07:38Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] 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. [/QUOTE] As strange as it sounds, [it apparently does](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice-A-Roni). It’s a _weak_ connection, but it wasn’t a total marketing fabrication. I doubt much is still made in the city, but it was at one point. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/34 "2007-03-01T04:39:47Z")
[QUOTE=MidnightRadio] I’ve always wondered how cinnamon came to be thought of as hot. Real cinnamon doesn’t taste hot to me. [/QUOTE] The problem arises because of the two ways we get “cinnamon” as a flavor. Cinnamon the spice is gotten from the bark of a cinnamon (well, more likely than not a cassia,) tree. The type of cinnamon used for flavoring candies and such is gotten from cinnamon _oil_. Yes, there is the same oil in the bark, but it’s not the super-concentrated version they use for the candies, and there are tons of other compounds adding flavor in the bark version as well. There, problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/35 "2007-03-01T10:44:30Z")
[QUOTE=Phase42] Except Liquid Smoke is exactly that: liquid smoke. It’s not an artificial flavoring: [/QUOTE] Wow, you learn something every day! Thanks for that. It still tastes bad, though, to me. I think the method of applying flavor (by fire as opposed to applying a liquid) and how the food is processed (fresh-sqeezed vs. pasteurized) has a lot to do with it, as well. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/36 "2007-03-01T13:38:48Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] The problem arises because of the two ways we get “cinnamon” as a flavor. Cinnamon the spice is gotten from the bark of a cinnamon (well, more likely than not a cassia,) tree. The type of cinnamon used for flavoring candies and such is gotten from cinnamon _oil_. Yes, there is the same oil in the bark, but it’s not the super-concentrated version they use for the candies, and there are tons of other compounds adding flavor in the bark version as well. There, problem solved. [/QUOTE] Right. And cinnamon oil _is_ hot. Very, very hot. Undiluted, it will burn skin. Public Service Announcement: when doing esoteric magical workings to summon angels or demons, do not get Abramelin oil (which contains cinnamon essential oil) into your eyes. It makes the demons laugh at you when you start sobbing from the pain. (Seriously, it can cause blindness.) ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/37 "2007-03-01T13:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Right. And cinnamon oil _is_ hot. Very, very hot. Undiluted, it will burn skin. Public Service Announcement: when doing esoteric magical workings to summon angels or demons, do not get Abramelin oil (which contains cinnamon essential oil) into your eyes. It makes the demons laugh at you when you start sobbing from the pain. (Seriously, it can cause blindness.) [/QUOTE] PSA seconded, although in my experience for “esoteric magical workings”, read “amorous massage” and for “eyes” read “other delicate membranes”… Careful dilution and manipulation of the essential oil is key. (Peppermint oil hurts just as much, mind you, but in the opposite way - “burning” cold instead of burning hot.) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/38 "2007-03-01T13:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=Elysium] Peach, though, is horrific. [/QUOTE] Seconded - and maybe it’s just my superactive imagination, but I swear peachy flavored stuff tastes FUZZY. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/39 "2007-03-01T14:16:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Same goes for the chinese food courts bourbon chicken. This may be a complete and utter “whoosh”, but I don’t think “Bourbon Chicken” is named after the liquor. Like the liquor, it is named after the Bourbon region and its ruling family. “Bourbon Chicken” does not and is not supposed to contain the liquor known as “Bourbon”, and, therefore, won’t taste like it. Good thing, too. It also doesn’t taste like the Bourbon region of France, or , I imagine, members of the Bourbon family. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066/40 "2007-03-01T14:32:30Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Right. And cinnamon oil _is_ hot. Very, very hot. Undiluted, it will burn skin. Public Service Announcement: when doing esoteric magical workings to summon angels or demons, do not get Abramelin oil (which contains cinnamon essential oil) into your eyes. It makes the demons laugh at you when you start sobbing from the pain. (Seriously, it can cause blindness.) [/QUOTE] This is why, in a lot of reviews of [BPAL](http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com) scents that contain cinnamon oil, you will find people who have had reactions because of skin sensitivity. (BTW, I love their _Inferno_ scent, and the cinnamon oil that it contains doesn’t bother my skin.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-flavored-foods-than-never-taste-like-the-original-ingrediant/394066.md?page=3)