"It isn't a recipe for a soft drink, says Greg Artkop, a spokesman for the Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group. He said it's likely instead a recipe for a bitter digestive that bears the Dr Pepper name.

He said the recipe certainly bears no resemblance to any Dr Pepper recipes the company knows of. The drink's 23-flavor blend is a closely guarded secret, only known by three Dr Pepper employees, he said."

So he doesn't know what the recipe is, but he knows that this isn't it? Methinks the man doth protest too much.

Mmmmmm mandrake root...

I wouldn't be surprised if this recipe WAS for a bitter digestive, but was then later formatted to be more palatable.

It contains Sweet Flag- A psychotropic drug! Wow, what colas DIDN'T have drugs in them back in the day??

Simple - follow the formula and see what you get. If it tastes like the current version you have it.

@unobservant:

While that may be true, I don't need to know the exact ingredients to tell the difference between, for example, a paint recipe and a cookie recipe.

The secret ingredient in Dr. Pepper is plum juice.
There, now you know and now I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
love,
Dr. Julius James Pepper III

This obviously isn't the real recipe. Where's the high fructose corn syrup?

The secret ingredient is actually High Fructose Corn Syrup.

@dougm: Haha, beat me to it dougm.