After eating a cream soda flavored Dum-Dums, I realized I don’t know what this flavor is. I never really liked the cream soda flavored sodas as a kid, but I am curious. What is this flavor???
I’ve always thought it was vanilla.
Yup. Vanilla.
I believe that the flavors of many sodas are “fantasia” blends, as the taste of any “cola” soda is. (See William Poundstone’s book “Big Secrets”, or the book “For God, Country, and Coca Cola”) That is, they’re mixtures that don’t exist elsewhere, and certainly not in nature. “Cola” soda doesn’t taste at all like the bitter cola nut (used originally only because it was the source of caffeine used in this “nerve tonic”). The general framework is a mixture of vanilla, cinnamon/cassia, and citrus oils (not juice), with other odd flavorings thrown in (lavender oil? neroli oil?)
What, after all, is the flavor of root beer? (various flavorings, with wintergreen strong among them). I suspect “sarsaparilla” soda is a similar mixture. “Dr. Pepper” is another fantasia blend that’s holding its secret pretty well, although its label admits to “lactic acid” of all things.
So “Cream Soda” is probably a blend. My guess is vanilla and wintergreen, with other stuff. You might want to check out a food industry formulary, like Merory’s.
I alway thought that root beer got its flavor from the sasssafras root. I know that if you take a piece of the root and slice it, it smells distinctly of root beer.
Cal analyses Coca-Cola as
Coriander. I saw the formula come out over the internet a few years ago (don’t ask me where from, somebody e-mailed it to me, I can’t remember where he got it from), and Coriander was one of the ingredients along with orange peel and lemon peel.
Root beer flavor depends on the triad of
- Sarsaparilla
- Sassafras
- Either birch bark or wintergreen (they’re practically equivalent in taste).
Root beer represents American Indian herbal lore picked up by the white man (and commercialized). All three plants are native to the North American woodlands. Commercial sassafras root has become very, very scarce nowadays due to its linkage with liver cancer, so any root beer flavoring you might find is almost certain to be synthetic (although sassafras extract with the safrole removed is available). Birch bark was the original third component used by the Indians, but is now replaced by wintergreen flavor in commercial root beer. There is sarsaparilla and then there is sarsaparilla. Much of the sarsaparilla root on the market is flavorless. If you can find bulk cut sarsaparilla root with the Seelect label, it has the good sarsaparilla flavor.
I have a feeling that there is a vanilla aspect to the flavor, but I also pick up something tropical, sorta like a vanilla/pina colada mix. I definitely taste a little pineapple in the mix.
But…
I thought they just took some cream and carbonated it?
LD…you’re moving away from Cream Soda and toward Egg Creme.