There’s a soda in Peru called Inka Cola that reminds me of bubble gum flavor. I think it’s supposed to be fake banana, which a previou poster to this thread found to be one possible component of the bubble gum flavor.
Back in my bartending days, when nights were slow and the boss didn’t mind us burning through some of the lesser-purchased liqueuers, I would make a shot called a Bazooka Joe for people. It tasted almost exactly like Bazooka Joe bubblegum, if you’re into that sort of thing. The ingredients are:
[ul]
[li]Two parts Creme de Banane[/li][li]Two parts Blue Curacao (or Triple Sec, but the Curacao gives that nice Windex color) – these are orange-flavored liqueuers[/li][li]One part Bailey’s Irish Cream[/ul][/li]
You can add some vodka too to give it extra kick, but it takes the edge off the bubblegum taste. You don’t want to drink a whole glass of this stuff, just a shot. So I concur with those who suspect the banana and orange flavors.
probably a very good guess. One patent describes the use of oil of wintergreen in bubblegum flavours (US 5,128,154). Another discussion on googleanswers ( Google Answers: Bubblegum Flavor ) suggests a mixture of esters (ethyl butyrate, ethyl acetate, etc), oils(orange
oils, wintergreen, etc) and sweet-ripe-juicy chemicals(ethyl maltol,
vanillin, maltol, etc)
Happy to see that somebody referenced my post on Google Answers from a trillion years B.C.
I think the flavor that we recognize as “bubble gum” is probably an attempt to recreate the original Fleer flavor, which is of course a trade secret.
I find it interesting that other things are now identified as being bubblegum flavor. It’s so meta. It’s like how we still describe cars in terms of horsepower. Do you think one day we will describe spaceships in terms of carpower?
Cotton candy is pure sugar, unless you put some type of flavoring in it.
Whatever the case, be aware that quick comparison tasting of Toothpaste Flavor X with any Non-toothpaste Flavor X without a complete mouth rinse between is hopelessly flawed.
“Why Does Everything Taste Bad After You Brush Your Teeth?” Why Does Food Taste Bad After You Brush Your Teeth? | Mental Floss
Surfactants, baby.
If you believe the rumors we passed around as kids, then I’d say bubblegum tastes exactly like spider eggs.
It’s that taste the lack of which causes you to kick ass.
It’s sweet with a mild light fruit flavor and a hint of cinnamon. That’s not that useful of a description, but that’s what I think it tastes like.
There’s this Peruvian soda called Inka Cola, which tastes like fake banana but also like bubblegum, so… wait a minute…I’m getting a funny feeling, like a dim memory, from when I was a young man and a Black American president was almost unimaginable…
How do you describe the “tomato” flavor without saying “tomato”? How do you describe the “strawberry” flavor without saying “strawberry”? Most things just taste like what they are. Bubblegum is no exception.
to me, prickly pear cactus fruit tastes a lot like bubblegum flavor.
I could find a way to describe any flavor but it doesn’t help because I’d just have to refer to other flavors. It’s the qualia thing, we don’t have words precise words for sensations, but we can describe them comparatively.
You’ve eaten rubber before?
The taste of bubblegum has the same character as the taste of the Peruvian soft drink Inca Kola, which is flavored with lemon verbena. So, I could describe bubblegum as similar to lemon verbena.
Well, I have–namely the erasers on the ends of pencils. It’s been a while, but it was a nervous habit, kinda like biting nails.
Bazooka tastes like banana and cinnamon with a hint of methyl salicylate.
Ha! Look upthread – I mentioned Inka Cola twice, eleven years apart. I never knew about the lemon verbena (I described its flavor as “fake banana”). Thanks for fighting my ignorance – it’s taken longer than we thought!
Cinnamon+coriander is the key, plus as mentioned above methyl salicylate and essential oils of orange and lemon.
I always thought it tasted like sarsaparilla, which I’ve only had a couple of times. It’s apparently made originally from the smilax regelii plant. I’m going with sarsaparilla, even though I have no idea what brand.