6/15/05 | Grape Kool Aid
[ Currently Eating: Toast ]
Besides teaching kids how to mispell the word “cool”, Kool-Aid is known for its gigantically rotund pitcher-with-a-face that roams around busting out of brick walls in commercials and yelling “Oh yeah!!” The other day I got a free package of grape Kool-Aid in the mail from a friend and so I decided to mix it up and see if it was just like when I was a kid.
Not much has changed in the way of product; take some artificial coloring, add dry artificial flavoring, put it in a pouch, and sell it as a drink. Although, nowadays they have those Kool-Aid “Jammers” which are pre-mixed drink boxes. You’re mostly paying for the box, the water, and the convenience there. You could just as well pre-mix some and bottle it for your picnic.
So I went ahead and followed the directions on making up a batch of it. Or rather, I ALMOST followed the directions which start off with “Take a cup of sugar and …”. A CUP! If you haven’t made any baked goods in awhile you will be shocked to find out exactly how much a cup of sugar is. Even if it’s meant to go with 2 quarts of water, it’s unbelievable. I measured off a cup of sugar and looked at it for awhile before decided that the cup of sugar is meant for the KIDS version. You know how little kids will bounce up and down for hours on end like jack in the boxes? This is the reason why.
I ended up mixing up the Kool-Aid with 1/3 cup of sugar and about 1 1/2 quarts of water. This actually made it quite tart, which was excellent since I like drinks a lot more sour than most people. I might even be tempted to go with 1/4 cup of sugar or less. The taste was not bad, I mean what can you expect from artificial flavors plus water and sugar. It was a bit metallic tasting which was my only complaint.
One note is that the mix concentrate has a habit of staining anything it touches. While I was ripping open the mix pouch I accidentally got some of the powder on my hands. Wow, it looked just like a changed the oil on my car! Gulping down a glass of the mix, I felt the artificial dyes slowly coating my throat. It also does quite a number on your tongue, turning it nice and deep purple. This is what you get when you mix “Red 40″ and “Blue 1″. No worse than any number of candies on the market though.
On the whole, I think the drink mix is pretty good because it makes such a large quantity. The only bummer for me is that as the package states it is caffeine free… I actually would like some added caffeine in there to go along with the pretty purple colors. I didn’t buy the pouch so I don’t know how much it is, but I imagine it should be pretty cheap if you buy it in a bulk cannister. And on the bright side according to the package it is “Not a significant source of Fat Cal, Sat Fat, Trans Fat, Cholesterol, Fiber, Sugars, Vitamin A, Calcium, and Iron.”
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10
June 15th, 2005 at 8:48 am
I used to like grape Kool-Aid as a kid, but I haven’t touched it since 1978. What happened in 1978? 900 followers of Jim Jones, a crazy cult leader, committed suicide by drinking cyanide laced grape Kool-Aid. That kinda ruined it for me.
June 15th, 2005 at 10:28 am
Tim - LOL, I completely forgot about that until my wife reminded me about it…
June 15th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
I gave my sister and her husband about 200 little envelopes of kool-aid for their wedding a few years ago. Her husband was a roommate of mine long before they were married, and he used to drink a whole pitcher of kook-aid pretty much every day. It was really something. About a year ago, after they finished off my “gift,” my sister banned kool-aid in their house. It was a dark day for her husband.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
I figure I’ll give it an even thrity years, then I might be able to try it again without getting sick.
June 15th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
Bottom (or is it Feeder), that’t a lot of Kool-Aid to drink in a day. My first roommate in college did something similar. He used to drink a two liter bottle of coke per day, in addition to several cans (anywhere from 2-6). I saw him a few years later and he told me he had to quit after he went to the dentist, who told him he’d have no teeth if he kept drinking the stuff.
I’ve noticed we’re the only 3 commenters on both of these blogs today. Maybe I should start one and we could have one other place to leave comments (besides J-Walk, that is).
June 15th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Good suggestion about adding caffienne… 1 cup of sugar and caffiene, the kids will never stop!
June 15th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
No caffeine? I believe the cup of sugar replaces the caffeine.
June 15th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
Grape Kool-aid is still my favorite flavor since about 1950. Also, I remember my grandmother mixing Grape Kool-aid with grape juice to stretch her food budget. I would buy a package for 5 cents at the corner market and sprinkle it on my tongue as a sour treat.
June 15th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
Tim - You should definitely start up a food or product review blog. I would visit it and comment! =) I also had a friend who drank a lot of coke. I think about 4-6 a day. 2 for lunch, 1 dinner, 1 at night. I think he had some sort of stomach ulcer problem… although, I have heard that soda doesn’t cause ulcers… is that true?
Aaron - I’m sssorry I can’t type a rresponse, my hhands is ssshaking
Marvo - Wwwhaat’s thattt you sssay about sssugar??
Earl - i fffoorgot tttoo take a piccture of mmy ttongue as wwwell… was vvvery pppurple…
June 15th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
No wonder we all had cavities!
June 16th, 2005 at 12:35 am
When I moved, I had absolutely no money. And I’ve never really had a taste for tap water so instead I’d just buy a lot of Kool-Aid. I think the sugar might have been more expensive than the packets, even.
My favourite part about Kool-Aid, is that it’s enough incentive to drink water and it has no calories.
And now they have these nifty flavours that have a “cooling” effect on your mouth. It’s creepy.
June 16th, 2005 at 1:40 am
I don’t know what it says about me, but I never stopped drinking the stuff. About the only change I have noticed over the years was brought to my attention by a friend at another blog (Sounddestruction.blogspot.com maybe?): It seems that the Kool-Aid Guy now wears pants.
When did THAT happen?
June 16th, 2005 at 9:56 am
Sar - My mouth is, indeed, filled with metal…
Grace - I am thankful that I was able to install a water filter underneath the sink a few years ago (I received it as a gift, didn’t have to buy it). Before that, I would head to the inlaws and fill up gallon bottles of their water and bring it back…
Food and God - On a similar note, does Donald Duck still NOT wear pants? I always thought that was a bit obscene