Invent a sweet low calorie drink.

[barfbag]

Recently I had a drink but cannot recall the name.

 

What made it interesting is that it was very sweet with no artificial sweeteners, and yet had only 5 calories per cup.

 

The contents had a pulpy type substance that was not pulp. I suppose I could compare it somewhat to bubble tea but the pulpy stuff was more stringy.

 

What separated this drink from others is I believe the pulpy type stuff delivers the sweet sensation by landing on the tongue while most of the other contents were likely water.

 

I would say it was a sweet as pop or juice in taste.

 

I half think this belongs in Chemistry and half think it belongs in Biology, so I placed it here.

 

Maybe one of you young chemists interested in food chemistry might appreciate this post and invent something designed to do what that drink did accidentally (maybe by design).

 

The stringy pulp like substances would need to be long enough to trip up on your tongue and deliver a sweet flavour, while the water contents are left more or less sugar free.

 

I shall endeavor to find the name of this juice ("Neva" possibly), and if I find it again I will add a photo here.

 

I am not a biology major or an expert on food chemistry so I am not sure how exactly it worked, but I could drink that stuff all day and it would be a great mix. It was somewhat lemony in taste.

 

5 calories for a health drink that tastes as sweet as juice with no artificial sweeteners.

 

I wouldn't know where to begin trying to make a pulp like substance that was sweet in taste.

 

If someone did develop the idea they could package the pulp type stuff as an additive to bottled water maybe.

 

Anyways. I will try to come up with name and photo, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there before my memory fails me and I forget to mention it.

[CharonY]

Well, afaik viscosity should not elicit any taste sensation on its own. Typically, these low or non-calorie sweeteners are added a concentrations that are too low to create a pulpy sensation, so it is most likely a different additive that is independent of the sweetener.

Among known natural sweeteners (which basically means that they are not completely synthesized) with somewhat low calorie content are e.g. stevia, erythritol, rebiana, maltitol and sorbitol.

 

While the artificial sweeteners are more popular as sweeteners, there is no fudamental difference in use and some companies use e.g. stevia or similar for their soft drinks in order to be able to put an "all-natural" or similar label on it. Health-wise there is no known difference. It is mostly marketing.

Edited June 20, 2014 by CharonY

[barfbag]

Well, afaik viscosity should not elicit any taste sensation on its own. Typically, these low or non-calorie sweeteners are added a concentrations that are too low to create a pulpy sensation,

 

 

Perhaps I did not explain it very well.

 

It was a Aloe Vera Health drink high in Vitamin C. It said there were no artificial sweeteners, so I'm assuming that included your list.

 

 

 

This is the drink here. I just found it after typing out a reply here and have added photo as an edit. I suppose I can check the ingredients for artificial sweeteners, I cannot recall seeing any in the label when I drank it.

 

I am still intrigued by the idea of putting tiny floating flavour packets in a drink instead of sweetening the entire drink. Whether in a pulpy or bubble or string type form.

 

 

---------------------------

 

So let's pretend for now that we are looking for a water additive that will register sweetness on the tongue, but was only a small percentage of the drink itself. Bubble teas are an example of drink additives where the bubbles hold a unique flavour.

 

The floating Bubble/pulpy parts in your drink should mix well in water at least when shaken as opposed to just staying at the bottom.

 

Drinkers could save the sweet bubble flavours until the end or shake the bottle of water until every sip brings a small packet of flavour.

 

Maybe this is what the company has already done, but I view it more as a new type of drink.

 

I was hoping this might inspire some young student interested in food chemistry to design such a thing. Maybe take into consideration the length of pulp compared to taste bud receptivity and so forth.

 

Some people dislike pulpy drinks, but it would be a small price to pay to satisfy a sweet tooth while drinking healthy and low cal juice.

 

Any experts on tongues and/or food chemistry out there?

 

I will look at ingredients of the "vera" drink above before I comment further. I hope there is no artificial sweeteners, and I normally check but cannot recall.

Edited June 20, 2014 by barfbag

[CharonY]

I think you explained well, you just misunderstood me.

 

The sweeteners that I mentioned are all natural sweeteners, not artificial ones (as I have tried to highlihgt). Drinks that contain them can declare themselves to be all natural or containing no artificial sugars. Just to reiterate and to be really clear this time: stevia, sorbitol et al are all so-called natural sweeteners as they are derived from natural sources (but can be processed). If you check, you will see that the sweetener is actually sorbitol, one of the natural sweeteners that I mentioned. The chunky bits in there are not related to the sweetness.

 

Almost all low-calorie sweetened drinks contain either the one, or the other. If you only want to have localized sweetness it is often done with alginate, gellan gum, agar, starch or similar additives. The chunks in the aloe drink? Not aloe. Typically they are just a gelled polymer to give you the sensation of things (though the solution they are derived from may or may not contain aloe).

 

 

If you wanted to, you can enrich those parts with sugar while polymerizing it. However, after a while it will diffuse in the drink anyway, which makes it typically rather useless for bottled drink that are going to sit around for a while before consumption.But with freshly prepared you can have sweet chunks in an otherwise unsweetened drink. The opposite is more often, however. Probably as it is easier to create. The whole thing is not a new concept either, especially in Asia these types of drinks are very common.

 

For the "healthy" part: it has not been demonstrated that natural sweetener are in any way healthier than artifical ones. Both are processed, anyway.The truth is that they are probably not much different than any other vitamin c enriched water or soft drinks. They tend to be heavily processed and may lose quite a bit of their positive properties. Not to mention that the aloe part (usually added as powder) may be very low. It would be a bit of an euphemism to call them juice (which is why they do not call themselves that). Health drinks are a big market. But typically it is more marketing than anything (including the "natural" part). Drinking tea is presumable better.

Edited June 20, 2014 by CharonY

[barfbag]

Okay. I see my mistake there. I still have not been able to identify ingredients.

 

For the "healthy" part: it has not been demonstrated that natural sweetener are in any way healthier than artifical ones.

 

 

at 5 calories per cup I'll take my chances.

 

If you wanted to, you can enrich those parts with sugar while polymerizing it. However, after a while it will diffuse in the drink anyway, which makes it typically rather useless for bottled drink that are going to sit around for a while before consumption.

 

This makes sense. So the sweet "chunks" would need to be insoluble to some extent or added late as you suggest below.

But with freshly prepared you can have sweet chunks in an otherwise unsweetened drink. The opposite is more often, however. Probably as it is easier to create. The whole thing is not a new concept either, especially in Asia these types of drinks are very common.

 

 

 

I am not very familiar with Asian drinks aside from green tea or bubble tea.

 

This "Vera by OFC" drink is made in South Korea. The taste is pretty sweet. I have a Pop Machine and was even thinking it might make a nice pop if I carbonized it. Maybe I'll try that someday.

 

I cannot add much more to this until I get more of it and taste test the various parts of it and see the ingredients.

 

I feel like walking intp Coca Cola and throwing a bottle on the CEO's desk saying, "Why can't you do something as simple as this".

 

It puts most diet drinks to shame.

 

So floating sweet chunks is what we are after... Maybe you could simply dice up a piece of fruit such as pineapple for similar effect.

 

I must admit I was fairly blown away by the taste and concept. I've even thought about adding a video to my Youtube Channel, but I don't have enough information still. Maybe some day.

 

Thanks for your input.

[CharonY]

 

I feel like walking intp Coca Cola and throwing a bottle on the CEO's desk saying, "Why can't you do something as simple as this".

 

Oh, they already are, just not under their main brands and for the most part not in Western countries. Typically in Western markets texture within drinks are not very popular (pops/sodas are typically associated with things like "smooth" or "creamy"). The exception being fruit juice, where they add pulp. But the big beverage companies are also selling in Asia, where they are more likely to have these kinds of products. As they say, nothing new under the sun.

 

 

Maybe you could simply dice up a piece of fruit such as pineapple for similar effect

 

Again, this would only work in fresh products and even then, not to great effect unless you pick them fresh from the tree. Typically fruit and fruit juices are pretty much tasteless after the sterilization process and require the addition of flavor. One of the reasons why orange or especially grape juice from the box tastes so different from freshly made ones.

In addition, the sweetness of typical fruit is usually much less than that provided in soft drinks.

[barfbag]

Again, this would only work in fresh products and even then, not to great effect unless you pick them fresh from the tree. Typically fruit and fruit juices are pretty much tasteless after the sterilization process and require the addition of flavor. One of the reasons why orange or especially grape juice from the box tastes so different from freshly made ones.

In addition, the sweetness of typical fruit is usually much less than that provided in soft drinks.

 

 

Well. Maybe it is making its way here although it took its sweet time. Maybe there is a science project for a budding food chemist here after all.

 

This was interesting, but I think i'm done with this thread for now. If I do buy that again perhaps I will list the ingredients and taste the juice and pulp separately.

 

Cheers.