# food or dishes you perfer the imitation version of instrad of the real thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841 "2019-04-21T06:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/101 "2019-04-27T17:36:01Z")
That’s what i was thinking of when i agreed that surimi is delicious. I’m not sure I’ve had other brands. I guess I’ve had solid things floating in soup that aren’t very good… ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/102 "2019-04-27T20:31:43Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Not sure if this belongs here but, how I long for a Hydrox cookie. IMO much better than an Oreo. Hydrox were introduced in 1908. Oreos were introduced in 1912 to compete with them. So Oreos are actually the pale imitation. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrox) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/103 "2019-04-28T13:07:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They could make the real thing thicker but given how expensive it is already, reducing the yield by boiling the sap down further to make it more concentrated isn’t cost effective. I wonder if it might have an adverse effect on the taste as well. More likely, they’d add something like modified food starch only local regulations prevent it. In any event, _I_ like it as it is and even $17.00 a quart that it runs around here is cheap per serving when it’s only four or six tablespoons at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/104 "2019-04-29T13:17:54Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > Artificial fruit flavors are really strange. To me, artificial cherry and grape don’t really taste like cherries or grapes, but they still taste great. On the other hand, artificial peach and strawberry do taste like peaches and strawberries. but in an awful way. > > I guess it’s just individual preferences. Agreed on the cherry. Would have agreed on the grape, except some years back I tried making grape pies (per a recipe someone posted here on the Dope). You use Concord grapes in a grape pie. “Grape flavoring” is clearly designed to taste like Concord grapes - at least like what they smell like. In making the grape pie, you de-skin the grapes (easy, actually: you pull the grape off the stem and squeeze, and the innards shoot out from the skin). The inner part is pale greenish, just like a green table grape. Weird as hell to be smelling that “purple” smell while looking at a bowl of green grapes. Next autumn, buy some Concord grapes (they have a very short season) and you’ll see what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/105 "2019-04-29T14:46:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Artificial cherry flavoring doesn’t actually taste like real cherries, because it’s actually artificial pomegranate flavoring. See, the “cherry” flavor they’re mimicking is maraschino cherries, which are cherries soaked in grenadine syrup, which is made from pomegranate juice. Actually “maraschino” cherries are regular old sweet cherries that are soaked in some kind of weird brine solution that bleaches them and removes their flavor. Then they’re dyed and soaked in a sugar/corn syrup solution with bitter almond flavoring (not too far off from cherry flavoring actually). This is different from the real thing, which are marasca cherries soaked in maraschino liqueur, which is distilled from those same cherries and their pits (which taste a lot like almonds). So basically “maraschino” cherries as we know them are extremely fake substitutes of the real thing. [The real ones are still available, but quite expensive.](https://www.amazon.com/Luxardo-Gourmet-Cocktail-Maraschino-Cherries/dp/B011PK0CFQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1GO3RNE3Z7VEE&keywords=luxardo%2Bmaraschino%2Bcherries&qid=1556549154&s=gateway&sprefix=luxardo%2Bm%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-4&th=1) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/106 "2019-04-29T17:22:58Z")
And if you want to get to US legal labeling definitions, [there’s a bit about Maraschino cherries in the FDA’s Compliance Policy Guide](https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550550-maraschino-cherries): > [@](#): > > The term “Maraschino Cherries” is regarded as the common or usual name of an article consisting of cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor. I’ve never heard of Maraschinos being soaked in grenadine, only sugar syrup flavored with bitter almond. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841/107 "2019-04-29T22:09:21Z")
OK, on digging further, I see the source of my mistake: Grenadine is, in fact, made from pomegranate. A Shirley Temple is supposed to be made from ginger ale, grenadine, and a maraschino cherry. But I’ve had bartenders who have made it using the syrup from the cherry jar, instead of the grenadine. Which led me to believe that the syrup in the cherry jar was grenadine, when apparently the bartender was just faking it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-or-dishes-you-perfer-the-imitation-version-of-instrad-of-the-real-thing/832841.md?page=5)