We’ve been getting reports from readers that Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback are showing up in stores. Heartening news since Passover Coke season is over. “The second ingredient (after water) is ‘Sugar’ not the dreaded HFCS. Oh, and it is delicious,” Wyatt in Minnesota told us.

Yesterday, Slate reported on the “decline and fall of high fructose corn syrup” and the public’s growing distaste for corn-based sweetness. …or lack of a distaste.

[W]idespread anecdotal reports suggest that people really can tell the difference between sugar-sweetened and HFCS-sweetened colas. (I’m pretty sure I can taste it myself.) What’s less clear is whether one is really any better than the other. Despite the enthusiasm for sugar-sweetened Coke and all-natural iced tea, informal taste tests have yielded ambiguous results. In a street survey conducted by the Toronto Star, most passers-by preferred regular Coke to the Passover version; several folks described the latter as tasting like aspartame. A similar confusion beset the Snapple testers at Fast Company: One described the HFCS version as tasting “more natural” while another dismissed the all-natural version for its “chemical taste.”

Dark Sugar [Slate] (Thanks, Chris and Dave!)

(Photo: Paxton Holley)

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