What?! There is no Ginger in my Ginger ale!

Ginger is one of those great things to include in your diet.
I've been trying to include it more in my recipes for it's anti-inflammatory qualities. Ginger has also been a proven remedy for nausea and vomiting along with other stomach ailments. Ginger Ale is often given to a sick child with a tummy ache.

But guess what? There is no Ginger in Ginger Ale!

I don't drink much soda because of all the sugar it has, but recently my wife and I went out to dinner and I decided to drink Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Although it still contains a lot of sugar I felt it was better than the other soft drink options due to it's Ginger content. My wife asked if I knew how much Ginger is in Ginger ale. I had no idea. I wondered if there was even a significant amount.
So we went home and I hit the Internet looking for answers. Right away I went to canadadry.com. I was shocked!

Ingredients:Carbonated Water, High Fructose Syrup and/or Sugar, Citric Acid,
Natural Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Caramel Color

No Ginger!

The ginger extract is probably in the "Natural Flavors"

Severely dissapointed to find no coke in the cola too eh?




Come On, someone was gunna say it!


I think that you can find ginger beer (soda) in some places tho, that has ginger in it, usualyl less popular brands.

Also, consider how strong ginger is, a tiny bit would flavour a glass or soda can, so the 'natural flavours' probably is where its at.

It doesn't look like there's any "ale" in it, either.

And there's no pepper in Dr. Pepper. I bet the guy's not even a doctor!

It seems to be some sort of high fructose conspiracy. In fact, I seem to recall that "Lord High Fructose" is the ultimate secret society title. I can't reveal which group, but maybe someone will "fez" up.

After reading your replies I can not dismiss the possibility of Ginger being one of those "Natural Flavors" but I do find it funny that they just don't say what the "Natural Flavors" are. I may have to look for some rule book on ingredient labels.

I did just do a google search on "ginger in ginger ale." I've seen results saying there used to be ginger in ginger ale, there is very little ginger in ginger ale, or there is no ginger in ginger ale.
I haven't found anything solid from a heath or soft drink website though.

It appears to be a secret .

I am originally from Detroit, Michigan -- the home of Vernor's Ginger-Ale. Ahhh, I remember all to well the "good old days" when it was possible to purchase an ice cold Vernors' from their old Michigan Avenue Bottling Plant. Aged in Oak Barrels for four years, this was the King of Ginger-ales. It wasn't some cheap imitation ginger flavor, this was the real deal!

Unfortunately, about twenty years ago, Vernor's was purchased by a larger corporation and, alas, they "modernized" things; the Vernor's syrup is no longer aged four years in oak barrels and I am not certain whether they even use real ginger. But the "new" stuff still tastes pretty good -- better than other ginger ales -- but not as good as the original.

Here's a link to a site referring to Vernors' as well as a recipe.

hcs.harvard.edu...

Originally posted by Umbrax
After reading your replies I can not dismiss the possibility of Ginger being
one of those "Natural Flavors" but I do find it funny that they just don't say
what the "Natural Flavors" are. I may have to look for some rule book on
ingredient labels.

Usually, "Natural Flavors" on a label, can cover anything from Ginger
(real or not, in this case) to monsodium glutamate (MSG), Apartame,
or any other substance they choose. For more information click here:

1. LEARNING ABOUT FOOD PACKAGE LABELS

That should get you started. Hopefully, you'll choose to dig deeper.


Blessings!







[edit on 11/21/2005 by WalksThroughTime]