Subject: Re: brown sugar vs fake brown sugar

From: [email-masked] (Rachel Shepherd)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 13:03:13 LOCAL

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Adrian Mariano) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Adrian Mariano)
>Subject: Re: brown sugar vs syrup
>Date: 18 Mar 1996 01:39:45 GMT

>[email-masked] (Frank van Doore) writes:

>>As far as I understand, Brown sugar can either be the residue of the 
>>refining process or the first crysrtal form (also called RAW sugar). 

>>The refining of sugar starts with the cane juice being extracted from 
>>the cane. It is given a crude refining (mainly to remove large rocks 
>>and dead birds etc) and it is then crystallized. The resultant RAW 
>>sugar is brown in colour and this is sometimes called BROWN sugar. 
>>This sugar has all the wonderful contaminants of amino acids, dirt 
>>and extras goodness that comes from being a raw products.

>> ...

>>In the final analysis you are left with WHITE sugar, molasses and the 
>>sugar that could not be refined any further. This is true BROWN 
>>sugar. It contains, by nature of the refining process, molasses and 
>>any other contaminants that the mill couldn't sell elsewhere.

>>So Brown sugar isn't white sugar that was dipped in syrup. But rather 
>>an impure form of the GOOD stuff..

>(From On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee) 

>[Brown sugar] is made by adding special syrups that have undergone the
>ideal amount of browning to refined, redissolved sucrose.  This
>mixture is then again crystallized, and the fine molasses film,
>instead of being washed off, is left on the crystals.  The result is
>pure sucrose crystals with a thin coating that gives them a
>characteristic flavor, color and moistness.  Truly "raw," unrefined
>sugar contains soil, microbes and other contaminants and the FDA
>classifies it as unfit for direct use in food.  "Turbinado" sugar
>which is edible is partly refined by being washing the initially
>crystallized sucrose with steam in the centrifugre, but it is not
>redissolved or treated further.  Turbinado has much the same
>composition as brown sugar.  Brown sugar is soft and clingy because
>its molasses film--whose glucose and fructose are more hygroscopic
>than sucrose--contains about 35 times as much water as ordinary white
>sugar. 

>In short, brown sugar is just white sugar that was dipped in syrup.  

Real brown sugar is a partially refined sugar.  It has a wonderful and 
unique flavour.  In flavour terms brown sugar is the 10 year old malt 
whiskey and white sugar is the industrial alcohol.  The coated white sugar 
that is sold in the USA and elsewhere is a fake brown sugar designed to fill a 
market niche. (equivalent to adding brown colouring to industrial alcohol and 
calling it Bells??).

---

From: [email-masked] (Pierre Jelenc)
Date: 19 Mar 1996 17:39:26 -0500

Dwight Ritums <[email-masked]> writes:

> Is there some place in the world where 'paraffin' is a synonym for
> 'kerosene'? 

It is the normal British word.

>  And if so, what word do they use for 'paraffin'?

"Paraffin wax", which is chemically very sensible.

Pierre
-- 
Pierre Jelenc              Know what's weird? Day by day nothing seems to
[email-masked]             change, but pretty soon everything is different.
[email-masked]                                         Calvin & Hobbes 
                   http://www.columbia.edu/~pcj1/

---

From: [email-masked] (Mordea)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 19:27:58 GMT

Polar ([email-masked]) wrote:

: "Cola gourmand" ??!!  Talk about oxymorons!

: Do you realize you can get the rust off metal by soaking it in (ugh)
: Coke?

     And you can lighten your hair by putting lemon juice in it.   
Wonderful things, food acids.

Mordea
-- 
   Note: _ALL_ flames will be ignored.                      ------- 
                                                            |  X  |
   You have new mail.                                       -------

---

From: [email-masked] (Reverend Tweek)
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 16:00:26 GMT

Joe Myers  <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>The Brits do that a lot.  In my MG owners manual, there's reference to 
>the "hood" (which is the convertable top) the "bonnet" (which is the 
>hood) the "boot" (which is the trunk) &tc.  I think they do it because 
>they know it annoys us.

You should have been around for opening night of "Boyz in the Bonnet."

---

From: [email-masked] (Tom C.)
Date: 20 Mar 1996 13:36:52 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> - [email-masked] (Pierre
Jelenc)17 Mar 1996 10:51:18 -0500 writes:
+
+Mark Israel <[email-masked]> writes:
+>    In a current TV ad for a frosted wheat cereal, the advertisers say
+> that one of their competitors' frosted wheat cereals contains corn
syrup,
+> show a child saying "Syrup is for pancakes!", and go on to explain
that
+> *their* frosted wheat cereal has brown sugar inside.
+> 
+>    Since commercial "brown sugar" is (unbeknownst to many consumers
and 
+> some dictionaries) just white sugar that's been dipped in molasses,
and
+> molasses is a syrup, isn't this false advertising? 
+
+Chemically, molasses is _a_ syrup, i.e. a viscous aqueous solution of 
+carbohydrates; culinarily it is not "syrup". 
+
+Molasses is what's left over when you've removed all the extractable
+sucrose (or other simple sugar) from a natural source (mostly cane, but
it
+can be anything).  Corn syrup is obtained by hydrolysis of corn starch,
+and contains mostly fructose and glucose. (Maple syrup, of course, is
just
+the concentrated maple sap. It does not figure in the same picture.)
+
+Brown sugar is indeed white sugar with molasses added, as opposed to
raw 
+sugar (turbinado, demerara, etc), which is crystallized before complete
+purification and was not (still is not?) manufactured in the US.
+
+Candy sugar, much beloved of Belgian brewers, is white sugar
crystallized
+in large crystals after various degrees of caramelization. It is then
+redissolved into a syrup for the brewery trade and sold as "liquid
candy
+sugar". 
+
+As for "false advertising", isn't that a tautology?
+
+Pierre
+-- 
+Pierre Jelenc              Know what's weird? Day by day nothing seems
to
[email-masked]             change, but pretty soon everything is
different.
[email-masked]                                         Calvin &
Hobbes 
+                   http://www.columbia.edu/~pcj1/

>From  way back...."raw" sugar was banned, at least in Canada in the
70's.Why?
Don't know about US regs.

According to the news report, there are over 180 *active* ingredients in
it, while at the same time not being able to identify them and being
able to sell molases (the residual from sugar). Must have bin another
marketing scam. Or nobody wants to have all those sugar eaters to be
healthy (:-)

regards
tom c.

---

From: [email-masked] (Tom C.)
Date: 20 Mar 1996 13:36:57 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> - [email-masked]
(Frank van Doore)17 Mar 96 12:02:31 -0800 writes:
+
+As far as I understand, Brown sugar can either be the residue of the 
+refining process or the first crysrtal form (also called RAW sugar). 
+
+The refining of sugar starts with the cane juice being extracted from 
+the cane. It is given a crude refining (mainly to remove large rocks 
+and dead birds etc) and it is then crystallized. The resultant RAW 
+sugar is brown in colour and this is sometimes called BROWN sugar. 
+This sugar has all the wonderful contaminants of amino acids, dirt 
+and extras goodness that comes from being a raw products.

>From  a crystalization process ??

+The next stage of the refining process redisolves the raw sugar and 
+concentrates it down. Each step removes some colour and those 
+wonderful contaminants.
+

You mean, it isn't treated with lime and bleaches to make it more white
and more disolvable. Isn't this why white sugar is so popular...cause it
disolves faster.

BTW- at a museum, I once saw a sugar cone 1800's...the old folks
scrapped the cone to add to their teas etc.

+In the final analysis you are left with WHITE sugar, molasses and the 
+sugar that could not be refined any further. This is true BROWN 
+sugar. It contains, by nature of the refining process, molasses and 
+any other contaminants that the mill couldn't sell elsewhere.
+
+So Brown sugar isn't white sugar that was dipped in syrup. But rather 
+an impure form of the GOOD stuff..

Howsa bout white sugar sprayed with all the left overs...with dirt and
everthing ie) molases

+Regards,
+
+Frank van Doore.

---

From: [email-masked] (Tom C.)
Date: 20 Mar 1996 13:36:59 GMT

+Regards,
+
+Frank van Doore.

---

From: Peter Hullah <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 11:37:34 +0100

Mark Israel wrote:
> 
>    In a current TV ad for a frosted wheat cereal, the advertisers say
> that one of their competitors' frosted wheat cereals contains corn syrup,
> show a child saying "Syrup is for pancakes!", and go on to explain that
> *their* frosted wheat cereal has brown sugar inside.
> 
>    Since commercial "brown sugar" is (unbeknownst to many consumers and
> some dictionaries) just white sugar that's been dipped in molasses, and
> molasses is a syrup, isn't this false advertising?

That depends on the brown sugar. Generally, if is says "brown sugar" on the
pack, or in the ad, you're right. Nowadays - in the UK, I don't know
about the US - you can get light and dark muscovado sugar which looks about
the same but is crystalised unrefined cane sugar and has (quietly now, so
that it doesn't run away) .... taste. The problem is that your advertiser
probably has to say "brown sugar" because surveys may have told him that
John Q. Public wouldn't understand "muscovado sugar". He could, on the
other hand, just really mean "brown sugar"!

I'm sure someone can let us in on the relative merits of refined corn sugar,
and refined beet sugar.

Pete

-- 

Peter H.C. Hullah                     Technical Services
e-mail: [email-masked]   EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre
Phone:  +33 1 69 88 75 49             BP 15, Rue des Bordes,
Fax:    +33 1 60 85 15 04             91222 BRETIGNY SUR ORGE CEDEX
                                      France

---

From: [email-masked] (BookMall3)
Date: 21 Mar 1996 07:04:40 -0500

Nutritionally speaking, both types of brown sugar are the same.  At
Amalgamated Sugar (Nyssa, Oregon), we make brown sugar by coating white
beet sugar with cane molasses.

Intermountain Institute of Food Technologists
Short COurse, Sun Valley, ID  March 20

---

From: [email-masked] (Simon Hosie)
Date: 22 Mar 1996 03:17:21 +1200

Dwight Ritums:
> Is there some place in the world where 'paraffin' is a synonym for 'kerosene'? 

  What's the difference between paraffin and kerosene?  I thought they were
the same, so people that used the word 'paraffin' for kerosene also used the
word 'paraffin' for paraffin without any confusion.

---

From: [email-masked] (Jitze Couperus)
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 15:45:29 -0800

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Simon

'kerosene'? 
> word 'paraffin' for paraffin without any confusion.

In some environments at least, "paraffin" implies a lower grade suitable
for lamp-oil, whereas "kerosene" is the expensive purified stuff they
use in jet engines. The to confuse the issue, "paraffin" means
"paraffin wax" to some folks, and is used to seal the top of the jar
when making jam.

-- 
Jitze Couperus                         | [email-masked]
Control Data Systems Inc               | Tel: (408)541-4334
1306 Orleans Drive, Sunnyvale CA 94089 | Fax: (408)541-4106
            Any opinions expressed are mine alone.

---

From: Peter Hullah <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 10:39:47 +0100

Truly Donovan wrote:
> 
> 
> Truly Donovan, who guesses that enough time has not passed to allow her to
> retell her ice-cubes-in-London anecdote

Oh Truly. Do you have an ice-cubes-in-London anecdote? I'm sure we'd all
love to read it. Oh please, Truly, tell us. :-)

Pete

--

---

From: [email-masked] (Tom C.)
Date: 22 Mar 1996 11:25:41 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> -
[email-masked] (Bernard Morey) writes:
+
[email-masked] (Pierre Jelenc) writes:
+
+>Brown sugar is indeed white sugar with molasses added, as opposed to
raw 
+>sugar (turbinado, demerara, etc), which is crystallized before
complete 
+>purification and was not (still is not?) manufactured in the US.
+
+What is sold as 'raw sugar' in the supermarket is not truly raw. Raw
sugar
+in the mill is unfit for human consumption and contains soil and
microbes. 
+'Raw' sugar is made by treating initially-crystallised sucrose with
steam
+in the centrifuge without it being redissolved.  It has much the same
+composition as brown sugar. 
+
+-- 
+___________________
+Bernie Morey
+Melbourne
[email-masked]

Whooaaaa !

You mean what we get now as brown sugar is only camalized white
sugar....now this is overprocessing and mismarketing...although the stuf
sure looks brown. (:-)

regards
tom c.

---

From: [email-masked] (Tom C.)
Date: 22 Mar 1996 11:25:43 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> - [email-masked] (Simon
Hosie) writes:
+
+In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Markus Laker)
writes:
+> I don't usually drink Coke, BTW: I think it's overpriced, over-hyped,
full
+> of caffeine and sugar (or, worse, sugar substitutes), and not
terribly good
+> for you. 
+
+Truly Donovan:
+> I don't drink Coke, either.  I'm a Pepsi junkie.  Umm, sugar!  Umm,
caffeine!
+
+  Doesn't Coke have more caffeine in it.  Either way, I wouldn't touch
+Pepsi or Diet-* and I dropped Coke when a Coke drinker I know lost a
filling
+and reminded me that I'm risking spoiling a perfect (filling-less)
record.
+
+  I think Coke's cheaper than milk in New Zealand (1.5 litres at about
$1.20
+versus milk at about $2.50 for 2 litres) - that's hardly overpriced.

HAR !

why gas isn't even a $\gal in some places.....no don't drink the gas
even though it is cheaper.

---

From: [email-masked] (Bernard Morey)
Date: 22 Mar 1996 22:08:15 +1100

>"Paraffin wax", which is chemically very sensible.

I have a bottle of Faulding 'Liquid Paraffin BP' in the medicine cabinet. 
Its usual use is for those difficult times when All-Bran just isn't good
enough... 

Bernie Morey -- Melbourne
-- 
___________________
Bernie Morey
Melbourne
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Truly Donovan)
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 03:28:10

>love to read it. Oh please, Truly, tell us. :-)

Okay, but *you* have to respond to any netcops who complain about 
repetitiousness.

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

In the summer of 1984, I arrived in London on the hottest day in then-recorded 
history, 97 degrees fahrenheit.  At dinnertime, I went into the restaurant in 
the Godawful hotel I found myself staying in (shoot the travel agent) and 
ordered a vodka and tonic *with lots of* ice.

Drink arrives with one ice cube, already almost shot.  I send it back for more 
ice, and it returns with one more cube, already dwindling rapidly.  (They just 
don't grasp the concept.)  

Time passes, I order a second drink with lots of ice.  Drink arrives, no ice. 
Following conversation ensues:

"I asked for lots of ice."

"I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, but you've already used up all our ice."

Truly Donovan

---

From: [email-masked] (Moore)
Date: 23 Mar 1996 15:42:14 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] says...
>sugar....now this is overprocessing and mismarketing...although the stuf

No, you've misunderstood.  Please let me explain.  I've been in the sugar 
refining industry for over nine years, so I hope that you can believe that I 
have some credibility.

The process of creating sugar crystals goes like this.  

Beet Sugar:  sugar beets are cut into cossettes (like shoe string french 
fries) and immersed in water to diffuse out the sugar.  Unfortunately, other 
compounds (proteins, other carbohydrates, etc.) diffuse out as well, so when 
diffusion is complete, the juice is subjected to 'purification' by liming to 
remove the non-sugars as much as possible.  Liming is a process of adding of 
adding calcium hydroxide (the high pH coagulates proteins, and causes other 
chemical reactions which help to remove the non-sugars) then precipitating 
out the calcium hydroxide by bubbling carbon dioxide through the juice 
(makes calcium carbonate, which is essentially limestone).  The precipitate 
which retains many of the non-sugars (due to the coagulation and other 
processes caused by liming), are filtered out.  Now the juice is 
concentrated by evaporation and crystallization is begun.

Essentially crystallization is a separation process.  Sugar crystals are 
grown around very small 'seed' crystals.  To do this, very small sugar 
crystals are introduced to the process to begin crystallization.  The 
crystals are grown to the desired size, while the syrup surrounding them 
becomes more concentrated in non-sugars (because the sugar is 'leaving' the 
syrup to become part of the crystals).  At this point it is necessary to 
separate the crystals from the syrup, which is accomplished by 
centrifugation (very similar to the spin cycle in your washing machine, 
except the holes in the basket are MUCH smaller!).  It is impossible to 
remove all the syrup simply by spinning, so to produce white granulated 
sugar, the crystals are washed with short burst sprays of very hot water 
while centrifuging.

No brown sugar is produced from sugar beets for retail sale, because the 
flavor of beet molasses (the syrup which surrounds the crystals) is not 
palatable to humans (cattle like it though!).

Sugar Cane:  the sugar containing juice is pressed from the cane, and 
subjected to purification steps (not exactly the same as for beet sugar, but 
similar).  In sugar production from sugar cane, the first crystals prepared 
are truly RAW sugar.  As others have mentioned, it is not fit for human 
consumption, due to the presence of impurities, and must be further refined. 
 To do so, the crystals are re-dissolved, the syrup filtered and 
concentrated, and the crystalization processes described above are carried 
out.

To produce brown sugar, the crystals are left much smaller than for white 
sugar, and the syrup or molasses is not washed off completely.  The flavor 
of cane sugar molasses is pleasing to humans.  Many producers have in fact 
instituted processes where brown sugars are produced by 'blending'.  This is 
a process where sugar is refined to the white sugar crystal, then mixed with 
molasses to prepare brown sugar.  The reason for doing this is mainly for 
inventory control and convenience, rather than to 'trick' the customer.  The 
sugar is not technically any different, whichever way it is prepared.

So, no, brown sugar is NOT caramelized sugar.  Caramelization occurs when a 
sugar molecule is heated to a high enough temperature to begin to break 
down.  The characteristic flavors of 'caramel' are created by the breakdown 
products.  In fact, the sugar industry is extremely careful NOT to subject 
sugars to temperatures high enough to cause caramelization, because it would 
introduce these flavors and cause product loss (any sugar that is 
caramelized is no longer sugar, so it can't be crystallized).  The brown 
color in commercial brown sugars is created in the concentration of the 
syrup, where Maillard browning is responsible for most of the color.

(My experience is in beet sugar, so my apologies if I misrepresented or 
missed any aspect of cane sugar manufacture).

---

From: [email-masked] (Simon Hosie)
Date: 24 Mar 1996 06:59:50 +1200

Hosie) writes:
> I think Coke's cheaper than milk in New Zealand (1.5 litres at about $1.20
> versus milk at about $2.50 for 2 litres) - that's hardly overpriced.

> even though it is cheaper.

  Well, since we're dealing in different currencies.. If I had a car I'd
probably pay between $0.80 and $1.00 for a litre of petrol; that's between
$3.63 and $4.55 per gallon.

---

From: [email-masked] (Pierre Jelenc)
Date: 22 Mar 1996 20:53:39 -0500

> Its usual use is for those difficult times when All-Bran just isn't good

Known as "mineral oil" in the US when used for this purpose.

(Never has "BP" been a fitter initialism!)

Pierre

---

From: Peter Hullah <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 15:24:49 +0100

Joe Myers wrote:
> 
> [email-masked] (Dwight Ritums) wrote:
> >
> I think it's the Brits who use paraffin for kerosene.

AFAIK paraffin and kerosene are two completely different distillates
of petroleum. The Brits call AvGas "kerosene". It goes in aeroplanes.
Paraffin goes in heaters. We call gasolene "petrol", and GasOil 
"diesel" (sometime DERV - for Diesel-Engined Road-Vehicle) as well.

> hood) the "boot" (which is the trunk) &tc.  I think they do it because

Whereas the Yanks piss us off by using "subway" for "underground", 
"underpass" for "subway", and "tunnel" for "underpass".

Etc., Etc ad nauseam. (yawn)

PLEASE DON'T CONTINUE THIS WITH THREE MONTHS' CATALOGUING ALL THE
DIFFERENCES. And yes I know the Yanks say "airplane"!

Pete

--

---

From: [email-masked] (Tim Dugan)
Date: 25 Mar 1996 11:18:36 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>,
Simon Hosie <[email-masked]> wrote:
>[...]

Damn it!  Coke (ie, any soft drink) is cheaper than just about any of the 
healthier alternatives...including water?   The fruit-juice-in-a-can
products cost almost twice as much and...guess what?  They are 
almost always laced with "high-fructose corn syrup!" $@&$%%!!!!

Sigh!
-t
-- 
             \  \ /\  V  /\ /  /|   my web page:
              \ /\  \/ \/  /\ / |
             -->-->-->+<--<--<--+   http://starbase.neosoft.com/~timd
              / \/  / | \  \/ \ |
             /  / \/  ^  \/ \  \|
             \ /  / \/|\/ \  \/
               -----    +----
                        |
                        |
                       }${

---

From: Joe Myers <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 Mar 1996 21:16:01 -0700

Peter Hullah <[email-masked]> wrote:

>DIFFERENCES. 

So why aren't half the elevators ("lifts," for you Brits) in the world 
called "lowerers?"

Joe "Going Down?" Myers

---

From: Peter Hullah <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 10:44:38 +0100

> even though it is cheaper.

And don't shout about it either - I pay $1.25 equivalent per litre!!

--

---

From: [email-masked] (Matthew Rabuzzi)
Date: 26 Mar 1996 23:54:55 GMT

Bernard Morey <[email-masked]> writes:
: Dwight Ritums <[email-masked]> writes:
: > Is there some place ... where 'paraffin' is a synonym for 'kerosene'?
:
: I have a bottle of Faulding 'Liquid Paraffin BP' in the medicine cabinet.
: Its usual use is for those difficult times when All-Bran just isn't good
: enough...

But is it cheaper than milk? than Coke?  We want to know 
just how costive-active it is!

.........................................................
Me, Micelle, I: ebullient personality, into lather
Matthew Rabuzzi

---

From: Peter Hullah <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 11:23:39 +0100

Tim Dugan wrote:
> healthier alternatives...including water? 

There is, of course, one exception to this rule, (here in France, at least)
good old beer. Cheaper than Coke, Perrier, Orange Juice. Then they wonder why
people drink so much alcohol! I'd love to know the justification given the
tax on alcohol which there isn't on Coke, water, juice etc.

Pete

--

---

From: [email-masked] (Simon Hosie)
Date: 30 Mar 1996 09:07:03 +1200

> almost always laced with "high-fructose corn syrup!" $@&$%%!!!!

  'Only in America..'

  I'm not afraid to say it; I'm damned glad I don't live there.

---

From: [email-masked] (The Hermit)
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 06:50:20 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Simon
Hosie) wrote:

|Simon Hosie <[email-masked]> wrote:
|> [...]
|>   I think Coke's cheaper than milk in New Zealand (1.5 litres at about $1.20
|> versus milk at about $2.50 for 2 litres) - that's hardly overpriced.
|
|Tim Dugan:
|> Damn it!  Coke (ie, any soft drink) is cheaper than just about any of the 
|> healthier alternatives...including water?   The fruit-juice-in-a-can
|> products cost almost twice as much and...guess what?  They are 
|> almost always laced with "high-fructose corn syrup!" $@&$%%!!!!
|
|  'Only in America..'
|
|  I'm not afraid to say it; I'm damned glad I don't live there.

It ain't all it's cracked up to be...  :)  But I don't feel an incredible
urge to emmigrate.  At least not yet anyways...

---

From: Nicol C So <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 22:34:42 -0500

> almost always laced with "high-fructose corn syrup!" $@&$%%!!!!

The interesting thing is: In the US, while Coke is cheaper than many healthier
alternatives, it is more than 70% more expensive than gasoline.  You may wonder
why I would ever notice that fact.  Well, one day while I was grocery shopping,
I noticed that Coke was on sale--and it was dirt cheap.  I thought `it would be 
nice if somebody would design a car to run on Coke,' but I quickly changed my mind 
when I worked out the numbers.

---

From: [email-masked] (Markus Laker)
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 09:44:35 GMT

> tax on alcohol which there isn't on Coke, water, juice etc.

The same applies in a typical British pub.  The reason I've heard is that
competition is fiercer on beer than on soft drinks.  Mind, having been
drinking cider the other night at UKP1.90 per pint, I find this hard to
believe.

-- 
Markus Laker.

---

From: [email-masked] (Tim Dugan)
Date: 1 Apr 1996 13:21:10 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, Nicol C So  <[email-masked]> wrote:
>alternatives, it is more than 70% more expensive than gasoline.  

It varies a lot, but at a grociery store, you can get 2 liters of
coke for about $1.00 and a gallon of gas costs around $1.20.  So,
I would say the price is 2 to 1.  

Do you think there are more callories in gasoline?

>You may wonder why I would ever notice that fact.  [...]

Nah!  I've heard people try to make comparisons between the
prices of gas and milk as if milk costing more than gasoline
was a crime...let's see, they suck gas out of a hole in the
ground and filter it...they squeeze milk out of cows and
filter it and cook it and package it in clean packages and
refrigerate it and...  yeah, I'm not taking all the details
in, but the point is that you are comparing apples and 
handgrenades

>[...]  I thought `it would be 
>nice if somebody would design a car to run on Coke,' but I quickly 
>changed my mind when I worked out the numbers.

Think of the backfiring:

     BUUUUUURRRRP!!!!!!

-t

---

From: [email-masked] (Simon Hosie)
Date: 2 Apr 1996 14:10:53 +1200

> urge to emmigrate.  At least not yet anyways...

  You didn't attack me.  You're an American but you didn't attack me.. so
many other Americans got really really snotty at me.  Maybe they'll attack
you.

---

From: MARTY D PAULIN <mpaulin>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 15:31:47 GMT

re the price of Coke:
Nicol CSO wrote 'it would be nice if somebody designed a car to run on Coke...
>but I changed my mind when I worked out the numbers...

if you were here in Toronto Canada, the price of Coke on sale is 99 cents
for a 2 litre bottle, and gasoline is 57.3 cents per litre...
so in our case Coke is cheaper than gasoline!!!!