Food Theory: Blue Raspberry is a Complete LIE!

Boy Oh boy. I love snow cones! What flavor did you get Tom? : Grape! I…do I have to say this? I just love it. : Me too. And you to me? : Tiger blood. : Oh, you would. : Ah, what flavor is that? : Strawberry, watermelon and coconut. *Chef's kiss* How good. : Oh, that sounds delicious. And what do you get, Editor-in-Chief Dan? : *sip* Blue. : But

blue

isn't a flavor Dan, what flavor did you get? : Blue. : Do you mean

blue

raspberry

? : Is blue. : Ahh No, because blue raspberries don't exist. It's not a real flavor. Again I asked: What flavor did you get Dan? : Blue. : *runs screaming* : Blue. : *whispers* Bluuuuuuuuuue Hello Internet!

Welcome to Food Theory, where we're always working to improve manatee hue. Theoretically, we have to talk about the unique culinary oddity that is blue: the color, the flavor, the blue. You see, blue is the world's favorite color and it's not hard to see why. We tend to associate blue with positive things: the sky, the ocean, style

theory

. But actually those aren't really blue. They are simply the product of light refracting in a particular way when it comes to things that are actually blue. Scientists believe that blue is the rarest color that occurs in nature. This is because there are relatively few blue pigments found in the natural world and, because of that rarity, when they do occur, they often serve as a warning.

I mean, just look at this cute cake. Don't you just want to hug him with those cute blue rings and tentacles? Well, don't do it. Because it carries enough poison to kill 26 adult humans in a matter of minutes. There are also some species of indigofera plants that are used to produce natural blue dyes that contain a toxic chemical called indigo. Ingestion or inhalation of the chemical can cause symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and seizures. And, of course, there is the blue poison dart frog. I mean, with a name like that I really don't think it's necessary to explain how this blue is trying to scare me away.

And yet, despite how unnatural blue is and how it's basically a big red flag indicating danger, or I guess I should say a big blue flag indicating danger. When it comes to

food

, humans eat it. When M&M's wanted to revitalize the brand in the mid-nineties, Blue crushed the fan vote. Beating the other two options of pink and purple with an overwhelming 54% of the 11 million total votes. To celebrate, they illuminated the Empire State Building blue and that change would go down in history as one of the company's most successful campaigns. Most recently, in a fan vote for favorite Sour Patch Kids flavors, Blue Raspberry took the crown despite being released 20 years after the original flavor line, it now has its own exclusive flavor packaging.

And before saying anything, it's not limited to candy either. Blue cocktails have had their moment in the sun. The Bachelor's Hannah Godwin started a trend last year when she posted herself with a boozy blue

raspberry

slushie. She seemed somewhat innocent. Oh, blue cocktails are so trendy right now, but they are trendy and they continue to be trendy and they continue to dominate. Cool blue? Yes, that's the best-selling Gatorade flavor, but I can almost guarantee that none of you can tell me what cold blue tastes like. In fact, any of this blue stuff, what does it taste like?

Yes, you in the back. I know blue M&Ms taste like chocolate. Sit down. I ask again. Except this

food

. What is the taste of blue? Don't worry. I'll wait. Hmm? What was that? Oh, blue raspberry. Aha, aha, yes, of course. But what exactly is blue raspberry? You see, although at this point we have simply accepted this as something that exists, when you stop and think for a minute, there are many questions to ask about that unnatural concoction. What flavor is it really? Blue raspberries do not exist. If you have seen photos, they have been manipulated.

If you have seen videos, they have been retouched. If you think you've eaten them, you're wrong. The blue raspberry is not real and has never been real. So what is that imaginary flavor we all love? And furthermore, why did they choose raspberry precisely to represent this imaginary flavor? Raspberries are not blue. There are perfectly good berries that are actually blue, so why not use them? They don't even have to taste the same. It's not that grape flavored things taste like grapes. They made your Blow Pop taste like Lacroix. Your snow cone would taste like water that was next to something sweet a week ago.

That is the true flavor of the grape. So why not add blueberries to your blue candies? Why create a whole new fake berry to describe a made-up flavor in an unnatural food color? We live in a world where pudding now comes in dragon, unicorn and mermaid flavors. Sure! Siren! Very well, why not? Now we know what licking Ariel would taste like. I mean, she would have assumed it was something closer to the saltiness of the ocean and not the cloying sweetness of it. But of course, this is all fiction anyway. It's all invented. None of that is real.

And wait, what is that? A cup of Sour Patch Kids blue pudding? An energy drink? These things are everywhere. So today we dive into the history of Blue Raspberry. Why is this so popular? Why, for this specific berry? And most perplexing of all, what are you really ingesting when you eat it? Well, my friends call me Reverse Morpheus because today I'm about to show you the literal blue pill. As I mentioned before, no, blue raspberries are not real. Whoever first had the idea of ​​combining raspberry flavor and blue dye in the same food may have been inspired by a strain of the fruit called Whitebark raspberry.

Also known as Rubus Leucudermis, which takes on a bright indigo tint when at its most ripe. But these real things, yes, they are not the color blue as we know it today. They are also not typically grown at a rate where anyone would mass produce extracts of these things. So that's not the real flavor here either. Note, however, that I said "whoever had the idea", it seems a bit of a dispute as to who first had the idea of ​​combining this so-called raspberry flavor with blue dye number two, by far the specific shade most commonly used by the FDA. food coloring approved for this exact purpose.

But it is believed to have first emerged as a flashy additive to cotton candy and fountain sodas at concession stands and circuses. It would eventually be adopted and mass produced by the frozen treat business in the 1970s. Two separate companies claim to be the first to capitalize on the blue raspberry idea: first, ICEE. Those frozen sorbets that you sometimes get in supermarkets or gas stations. Secondly, Otter Pops. The plastic tubes of liquid sugar you get during the summer months because they're cheaper than regular popsicles. But no one has the scissors to open them when you really want to eat them.

Then you try to open them with your teeth and they splatter everywhere and you're like, "Gah, now my mouth is full of plastic." And sometimes there is a strange margarita flavor. Anyway, both claim to have been the first to make a raspberry blue version of their product. ICEE already had a blue element in their logo, so they didn't really have to change any branding. Meanwhile, Otter Pops even went so far as to introduce a

complete

ly new character to their roster called Louie Blue, a blue French otter who carries a flower. Also, can I say it right now?

I didn't realize Otter Pops had characters, and that's sending me right now. They even have a line of Funko Pops. And why is Orange's character sad? Oh, it's because she's an orphan. Oh gee. Should I be aware of your Otter Pop tradition here? Do I have to make a

theory

of the history of Otter Pop? What is even my life right now? Ok, now that we know who did it, why? Why blue? Well, if you read online, most articles will talk about the difficulty of associating the flavor of raspberry with a specific color. Sure, raspberries in the wild are usually some type of red, purple, or a shade in between.

But many other popular flavors are also strongly associated with those same colors. You can't use purple, that's for grapes. Red is usually cherry, that's why strawberry has to be pink. Watermelon is sometimes green unless the product line already has a sour apple variant, in which case it will turn pink. But the pink has already been replaced by the strawberry and, my goodness, this is already really difficult. So yes, the raspberry had to be blue almost by default. It was the last choice in the field, the one that had no other strong associations. And although yes, this is the most historically accepted reason why Blue Raspberry has remained in force for so long.

There is another more fundamental reason for the presence of blue raspberry that everyone tends to overlook. People didn't want to die. Believe it or not, originally most products artificially flavored with a raspberry tint were intended to mimic the appearance of raspberries. Raspberry Blow Pops, Raspberry Jolly Ranchers, Laffy Taffy, even Now and Later. They all started out red, but then changed to a blue color. Because? Well, if you're old enough or have older relatives, you may have heard stories about red M&Ms that haven't been around for a decade because people thought they were poisonous. Yes, that is a real thing that happened.

And it was because of a real public health panic over FD&C Red No. 2, also known as Amaranth, an industrial food dye named for its resemblance to red flowers. Amaranth was cited as a potential cancer-causing agent in several scientific studies published in the 1970s, leading to massive bans on its use throughout the United States. In fact, this public fear was so widespread that even foods that didn't use the red number two, like M&M's. They stopped making red products entirely because they were worried that consumers would fear all red dyes. But since amaranth is a little closer to reddish purple than bright red, products that used red number two tended to be raspberry flavored.

So when the FDA banned its use in the US, the hoax suddenly literally needed a whole new look. And blue number two was there, ready. And although now, with more sophisticated dye technology and many more color shades and shades available, blue razz has cemented itself as the color of the raspberry flavor profile in pop culture. And in case you were wondering, the FDA considers blue number two to be among the least harmful color-related food additives. Now that we know who and why, it's finally time to know the what. What does this imaginary made-up berry really taste like?

Because spoiler alert, it's not raspberry anymore. To understand what it is, we have to go back to 1922 and a chemical engineer named Melvin de Groote. With his 900 patents, Melvin is often considered the second greatest American inventor behind Thomas Edison, and the repercussions of his work can be found everywhere. For example, the oil that is pumped all over the United States? If left alone, it would wear out its transport pipe, but De Groote was able to find chemical solutions that made it less corrosive. But his work also crossed over into the world of food. Rumor has it that he helped create a magical chocolate shell that hardens on top of ice cream.

He is also said to have secretly reformulated the Coca Cola recipe when any alcohol-based ingredients were banned during prohibition. My addiction to Diet Coke thanks you sir. But it is his observations from the early 1920s that make me talk about him today. As the story goes, Mel went to the circus and noticed that pink lemonade consistently outsold the pale yellow natural variety. He later demonstrated that most people could not identify a grape-flavored soft drink unless it was explicitly purple. These were actually some of the first studies conducted on the relationship between color and flavor, and they showed that flavor could be decoupled from natural color.

Heck, you could decouple the flavor from itself. Just say what people are trying and they will believe you. With a little branding, you can make people think they're trying anything. Enter the world of artificial flavors. If a human being's sense of taste is really so easy to control and manipulate, why not do it more regularly? In 1869, a German chemist named Constantin Fahlberg accidentally discovered the sweet taste of saccharin while working in his laboratory. This led to the creation of the first artificial sweetener. And from there, during the rest of the early 20th century, the use of artificial aromas in colorants began to become widespread.

One of the first and most notable advances was the creation of synthetic vanillin in 1874, which turned what was historically an expensive and difficult-to-obtain flavor into something anyone could afford and use. Something we actually covered in a previous food theory. World War II also increased demand for artificial flavors, as the war created shortages of allnatural products. This was a trend that would continue after the war as demand for processed and packaged foods grew. But it was in the 1950s and 1960s that food companies began investing heavily in research and development of new artificial flavors and colors, resulting in the creation of many of the ones we know today: grape, cherry, bubblegum, and yes. , raspberry.

So what is the real flavor of blue raspberry? Well, when you look at the breakdown, there are actually four key components. The first is ethyl maltol, which has a sweet, caramel-like aroma and is commonly used in the food industry to enhance flavors. Next is methyl anthranilate, which has a fruity aroma similar to grape or cherry. Then there's isoamyl acetate, which has a fruity, banana-like aroma, and then they top it off with a little malic acid, a natural acid found in many fruits, including raspberries, to give the candy a tangy, tart flavor. . And there you have your blue raspberry flavor without any raspberries in sight.

So yeah, at the end of the day, blue raspberry, your favorite Sour Patch Kid flavor has been a lie this whole time. There is no such berry, the color used to give you cancer, so they made it blue. And the flavor is just what you think raspberries should have, which is apparently a mix of grapes, cherries, banana and sour. Disappointing? Yes maybe. I probably should have taken the red pill all along. As for me, I've always been more of a grape fan and don't even get me started on the fact that grapes don't taste like grapes.

Probably an episode for another day. But until that day comes, remember, everything is just a theory, A FOOD THEORY! Enjoy.