True cherry cola?

There are various extracts or complex recipes, but what would be needed to really hit the nail on the head for homemade cherry cola? It doesn't have to exactly replicate the commercial stuff, but I want it to have that essential kick. Nothing like the generic crap, like from the Refreshe copycat brand, and maybe not even like wild cherry pepsi.

Reading from "homemade soda" by Schloss, ALL cherry flavored concoctions are based on almonds. They remove the cyanide from bitter almonds which gives a more concentrated source of the same thing from cherry pits. I think this may be right, and actual cherry flesh or juice seems to pale in flavor from the almond based stuff which just shouts cherry. Maybe a remnant of cyanide adds some tingle?

They also say the origin of Coke came from Pemberton's French Wine Coca having to remove the wine due to Atlanta temperance laws. Cocaine leaf infused wine was popular in Europe and the US, so Coca Cola wasn't guilty of adding cocaine to the drink but subtracting the alcohol. He substituted Kola nut, and later had to de-cocainize their coca leaves.

"Fix the Pumps" book points to the company authorized to decocainize almost half a million pounds of leaves yearly for Coke, and names a company that sells these leaves legally for tea. So again, is something legal but close to toxic needed for the real, satisfying thing? The author on his artofdrink website seems to have backed off suggesting "extract of coca" and "extract of kola" according to his book for making cola, but...?

http://www.mysteriousbolivian.com/servlet/StoreFront

"Decocainized" coca tea will still contain a minute quantity of the drug. When the cocaine is removed, the amount of cocaine is small enough for the product to legally sell in the USA according to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

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http://www.mysteriousbolivian.com/servlet/the-157/A-A-Grade-Fresh/Detail

A A Grade Fresh Organic Coca Leaves From Peru. 100 grams ( Preorder May 13th)

Web Store Owned and Operated by Reyes Avila LLC, Boston - MA

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http://www.mysteriousbolivian.com/servlet/the-162/Coca-Leaves-Extract-NovoAndina/Detail

Coca Extract, the liquid is typically swished or gargled for about half a minute to a minute till it numbs and then can be swallowed; The Coca Extract can be also mixed with any soda or fruit juice. Do not use more than 2 oz per day, do not drive or operate machines after drinking the extract.

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http://www.playingwithfireandwater.com/foodplay/2008/06/benzaldehyde.html

Benzaldehyde is the essence of bitter almonds, which unlike sweet almonds contain hydrogen cyanide, a potentially lethal toxin. It is a fragrant volatile molecule and a by-product of cyanide production. Pure almond extract is pure Benzaldehyde, without the cyanide. It is used in the making of marzipan, maraschino cherries, amaretto liqueur, and amaretti biscuits and occurs naturally in the fruits, leaves, flowers and bark of stone fruits. It is the eminent aroma compound in the complex flavor of peaches, apricots, and cherries. The highest concentrations can be found in the kernels of these fruits, which must be heated in order to destroy the toxin. Benzaldehyde is also present in beer

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OK, I found some Bolivian Blast Off Juice in my mailbox today. Darn it, I didn't get the discount because probably I forgot to type in the special code... so $60 for a legal coca extract pint, delivered. At least no swat team came with it; I thought I might get a free cancer screening in the form of a body cavity search. The fat bottle with narrow neck won't pour properly... either drools down the bottle or glugs too fast. The spills I make now may leave a trace of something that drug dogs could give false alarms on.

Gee, it's smell was familiar... whiskey and medicine odor. Sort of like Nytol knockout stuff for colds. Sipping a bit gave an unpleasant medicine taste carried in something like whiskey. Wham, it numbs your mouth and tongue in an instant... stronger than kava. Before making cola with it, I first tried it in a soda I am very attuned to... lemon colada. OK, it did seem to add kind of a coke-like backbone to it, but didn't seem to belong in a fruity drink.

Then I added coca extract to carbed water with artificial cola extract, a dash of froze lemonade concentrate, and agave syrup... yeah! Not exactly coke, but very satisfying in a sense of that edgy backbone that is missing in fruity-tooty drinks. What are the proportions? I dunno, the cocajuice amount is uncontrollable and I guess I went lighter than normal with agave syrup which can otherwise smother things honeylike. I later tried to make a cherry cola where the cherry and agave dominated even a lot of coca juice... blah.

I will try to recreate the working plain cola (maybe with half HFCS and half agave) and post results in my sodastream syrup thread. I am so miffed by the price and not getting the discount that I probably won't get another. I have a line on pepsin extract used for pepsi, and have even thought about just adding a chewable aspirin to kola extract for a bit of that mediciney counterbalance.

Hmm, this thread digressed a bit. I have some cola syrup from Cuisinart and the "natural" version from sodastream. The first comes close, but neither really suffice as a cola (also cost a lot). So I tried mixing frozen canned concentrate of punch with the cola, and it was like a healthy cherry coke!

I was trying to finish the can of punch, and used more of it than the cola, yet the cola still dominated. The punch just gives it a natural (as in biological) backflavor. Too bad I can't try sour cherry syrup which used to be available. I bet berry punch works good too.

Another excellant combo with cola syrup is ginger syrup... really good and hides the slight off flavor of fake cola. These alternatives are cheaper syrups than cola, so lower the price of your drink while making it better.

You can find sour cherry syrup at ethnic food stores, here the Persian store has it. Or you could go with a baking flavoring if you want more concentrated cherry flavor.

If your looking for coke's recipe, they call the syrup "merchandise 7x"...you can check it out here:
http://www.blisstree.com/2011/02/15...ngredients-revealed-merchandise-7x-flavoring/

Of course this is an old recipe before they switched to phosphoric acid and hfcs. I feel most of the flavor comes from the oils and acid. Coca leaf is probably not much flavor, but since you have it...might as well try. And a dram is an 1/8th of a fluid ounce as a FYI.