I’ve searched the columns, the threads, and the web to no avail.
A few years back, I read that Cool Whip, after undergoing whatever infernal chemical reactions that render it vaguely similar in consistency to something that may at one time have reminded someone of whipped cream, must then submit to the addition of artificial colors to make it white. I had thought my original source for this information was Jane and Michael Stern’s essential tome, “The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste”, but it turns out I was mistaken.
Having once repeated this information to a 7 year old student of mine, he told me he and his brother would sometimes float a blob of cool whip in water in a white bowl for an hour or so, which would reveal its true hue as a film left on the bottom of the bowl.
Now for the life of me I cannot find any reference to this phenomenon. I have no idea if it is simply knowledge too arcane, or a short-lived urban legend from long ago.
Help me, Dopers (or even Cecil!?!)! Must Cool Whip be colored white to hide it’s original color: silver?
Nahh… No white coloring in CoolWhip. I just happened to have a tub of the stuff in the deep freeze - a leftover from Thanksgiving. Here’s the ingredients:
Water, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (coconut and palm kernel) high fructose corn syrup. Less than 2% of sodium caseinate (milk derivative) natural and artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, polysorbate 80, sorbitan monostearate and beta carotene.
Of all this, the only intentional coloring agent is the last one - beta carotene - and it’s a yellow-orange color.
The casein might* be added to give a nice white protein froth. The oils are prone to developing color by oxidation. Of course, beta carotene is an antioxidant so it works to protect against that reaction.
Emulsions are often slightly silvery or iridescent (think hair conditioner) - I’m not familiar with cool whip, but it could be that the white coloration is achieved by the mere fact that it is whipped and aerated and that reducing this aeration by soaking reveals the more natural, greasy iridescent sheen.
I confess I tend not to have Cool Whip in my house, as a matter of general principle, but the descriptions I have heard of the true color are that it is indeed a metallic silver tint, not merely an iridescent sheen. I am also dubious about printed ingredients, as many are not required to be listed at all times (check out Ruth Winter’s book, The Consumer’s Guide to Food Ingredients for details).
Minor ingredients that are part of a proprietary recipe (i.e., a trade secret) do not have to be listed individually. However, some record of their existence is required.
In the case of the particular Cool Whip ingredient list* given above those ingredients are subsumed under “natural and artificial flavorings.” These are unlikely to greatly change the overall color of the product.
Just FYI, the correct title to Ruth Winter’s book is A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, now in its fifth edition. I’m not a huge fan of the book and I would look for it in a library rather than wasting your money on it.
There are many varieties of Cool Whip, and therefore many ingredients lists.