At it seems odd, that I am coming here to review a commercial and mass produced product. But hey- I do admit, that I love coke and really like some other commercial sodas. I only try to stay away of artificial ingredients.
This said, Fanta Pineapple doesn't start a nice relationship with me.
While the front states "Pineapple flavored soda with other natural flavors" - the ingredient list looks like a witches brew:
carbonated water, HFCS, citric acid, natural flavors, modified food starch, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate [to protect taste], sodium citrate, coconut oil, salt, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, yellow 5, yellow 6Well - that doesn't really look like my homemade sodas. Yes citric acid, sodium citrate [a simple product, when you let citric acid and bicarbonate of soda react], carbonated water… this is understandable. HFCS is obviously far cheaper than sugar - this is an usual occurrence in all sweet industrial thing nowadays. Same applies for sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate - unfortunately people would like to have a very long shelf life and both are preservatives. A short look on the expiry date though relativize this - the shelf life is only 6 month - this is a bit disappointing, and maybe the food chemist overdid it a bit here. Also: even if it would be pale white [or off white] it would be understandable pineapple - so why the food color??? I believe, it would have more marketing effect, to state: without artificial color, than using the color to make an impressive yellow…
All this theory besides, how is the soda?
Well - surprisingly good.
Smell:
slight bubble gum pineapple aroma - tropical character with a funny hint of coconut at the end of the impression.
Taste:
Sweet upfront, with a definitive tropical pineapple aromatic kicking in. Nice acidity as well. It taste definitely better than pineapple juice from concentrate!
Afterthought:
Sweetness is quite lingering. Tropical flavors are moving towards coconut / nuttiness when the overall impression starts to fade.
Overall:
Surprisingly tasty pineapple beverage, which cannot though renege its industrial origins.
Yes - overall it is nice. Nothing to write home about, though overall pleasant.
Obviously it would not be able to compete a homemade pineapple soda at all. But rather than using 7up or Sprite [which definitely are as natural as this soda], it is worth to think about this product, when you are mixing up your rum [or gin - and if it is really necessary: vodka].
It would be adequate at home, but I wouldn't offer it in a bar.
Thanks for the comment - and thanks for the link. Glad, that you find my blog informative.
ReplyDeleteI just tried Fanta Pineapple (in the U.S.), and in addition to all the characteristics you describe, I found a bitter aftertaste. I was thinking it may be due to an artificial sweetener mixed in, but there doesn't seem to be one among the ingredients. What do you think may have caused the bitterness?
ReplyDeleteHi 'Anonymous',
ReplyDeletefirst, it would be nice, to use a name...
I haven't really noticed any bitterness at all in the can I tried.
Rather than artificial sweeteners, I would rather suspect the enzymes in the pineapple, which is notoriously aggressive and interact with a lot of stuff [that is why you can't make pineapple jell'o out of fresh pineapple, as the enzymes are preventing the gelatin to solidify].
So if they use real pineapple juice, this could be a source of the bitterness... but this is just speculation...