Food and Drink | Broken Secrets

Coca-Cola Supplier Imports 100 Tons of Coca Leaves Per Year

It is no secret that Coke’s 1886 “brain tonic” recipe called for cocaine. However, it’s not widely known that Coke still uses the coca leaf in their secret recipe. There is only one company legally permitted to import coca leaves into the United States, the Stepan Company of Illinois.

Coca Leaves

Stepan uses the coca leaf to produce pure cocaine for medical use and a non-narcotic ingredient that Coca-Cola uses to flavor Coke. Most of the coca leaves are imported from Peru, and The Washington Times has reported that 100 tons are imported per year.

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Photo Credit: Ryan Greenberg (Flickr/Creative Commons)

November 27, 2009 at 12:01 am Chad Upton 3 comments

Why Restaurant Food Stays Hot on Your Plate

Here’s a good secret for Thanksgiving dinner or the next meal you cook. I learned this during a cooking class from the experts:

Never serve hot food on a cold plate!

warm plates Have you ever sat on a bench when it’s cold outside? Your butt gets cold almost instantly! The same thing happens to your really hot food when you put it on a (comparatively) cold plate.

When you’re at a restaurant, what does the server say whenever they bring your food? “Watch this plate, it’s extremely hot.” They’re not trying to burn you, they just want your food to stay hot while you eat it.

Even buffets respect the warm plate. You know the hole at the end of the buffet that the plates magically rise from (see photo)? That’s not there for ergonomics, that’s a plate warmer.

So, if you’re not doing it already, here is a list of ways to get your plates warm.

Buy a plate warmer ($35 and up).
Many ovens have a warming drawer underneath. No, that isn’t a cookie-sheet graveyard.
Set your cook-top on low heat and lay the plates on top.
Rinse the plates in really hot water, then dry them.
Some dishwashers have a plate warmer function, otherwise run the rinse cycle on high heat with a heated dry cycle.
Put them in the microwave for a short time.

I should also say that the opposite is true, don’t serve cold food on hot plates. For example, when you go to a buffet and they have hot bowls for your “hard” ice cream.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!

Disclaimer: some dishes may not be suitable for some of these methods. Check with the manufacturer to be sure.

Photo Credit: LexnGer (flickr/creative commons/attribution)

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November 25, 2009 at 11:59 pm Chad Upton 7 comments

Stringless Banana Peeling

You’ve probably peeled hundreds of bananas in your lifetime. But, have you ever peeled one and not left any strings behind? Next time, try peeling a banana like a pro… try peeling like a monkey. Watch the video.

PS – This is not me; however, I am concerned for this man’s safety since he has band aids in the kitchen.

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November 24, 2009 at 12:01 am Chad Upton 8 comments

The Secret Marks on McDonald’s Cups

The secret marks are all about ice. How much ice is too much? Are you getting ripped off? Why are they so concerned with how much ice goes into the cup? Let me tell you…

McDonald's Cup Lines

Firstly, for credibility and disclosure, I should mention that I worked at McDonald’s for a while during high school. This was one of the most interesting, enlightening and dirty jobs I’ve had.

One of the most surprising things was their commitment to quality. I know that’s kind of an oxymoron, but keep in mind they’re dealing with burgers and fries, not White Alba truffles. Regardless, they take burgers and fries very seriously. They employ top culinary experts to perfect things such as, the exact amount of mustard their proprietary dispenser puts on a burger. They hand pick only the best potatoes for the fries, according to one training video. They also have proprietary shortening for cooking the fries and a different shortening recipe for nuggets and fish fillets.

Their attention to detail includes regular calibration of the soda dispenser. This ensures the proper mix of water, syrup and carbon dioxide for the perfect Coke. There are also buttons that represent each cup size to automatically fill the cups while the cashier gets the rest of your order. It is important that the exact amount of ice is put in your cup, otherwise the calibrated machine will not fill the cup to the top mark on the cup.

Let’s take a step back, there is a large machine in the back of the restaurant that supplies the soda machine with all of the ingredients. It compresses air for the carbonation, filters tap water and holds all of the various syrup flavors. There is tubing that carries all of these supplies to the front of the store where the soda dispensers are. There is no refrigeration in any part of this system, so they have to put enough ice in your cup to take the drink from room temperature, to ice cold — before you take your first sip.

On the internet, there are many complaints about too much ice in these drinks. People complain that they’re being ripped off. While I agree, there is a lot of ice in these drinks, if you compare the price per ounce, it’s still cheaper than canned drinks. Some people don’t mind room temperature soda and ask for it with “no ice” and some people even ask for “extra ice” so it’s extra cold.

Extra ice doesn’t sound that strange if you have one of those fancy fridges with an ice maker. Maybe you’ve experimented with different amounts of ice, and if you’ve ever completely filled a cup with ice you may agree that a super cold soda is the best kind there is.

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