A Healthy Alternative to Coke: Exploring the Ticky Ticky Toks Version

Greetings, my beautiful lovelies, it's Emmy. How are you? It's great to see you, and welcome back to my kitchen. Today, we're going to be making something that so many of you have recently requested and is for healthy Coke. Is there such a thing? Is Coke unhealthy? I would say in large quantities, anything is probably pretty unhealthy, but this claims to be healthy. And it's made of two ingredients: sparkling water flavored, apparently any flavor, and balsamic vinegar.

My straw is rolling across, and I suspect as many of you do as well that this combination will not taste like Coke. I mean, just simply because it doesn't contain any sugar. Part of the pleasure in my opinion, when we think of Coca-Cola, is that sweet, sugary taste. But, we'll have to see if this version can replicate that without using any artificial sweeteners or sugar. Let's get started and find out.

As I start mixing everything together, it looks like a typical recipe for homemade soda, but with the addition of balsamic vinegar, which gives it a slightly acidic taste. The instructions call for just a small amount of balsamic vinegar to give the drink that distinctive flavor, so we'll see if this works out in the end. Now, I'm not exactly sure what to expect from this version of Coke, but I'm excited to find out.

I've started tasting it now and, wow! It's actually quite refreshing. The fizziness of the sparkling water is there, but it's also got a slightly tangy taste from the balsamic vinegar. This is a unique twist on traditional Coke, that's for sure. Although, I do think it could use a bit more flavor to really make it stand out.

To try and improve this drink, I've been experimenting with different flavors. I started by adding some black raspberry syrup, which added a nice fruity taste to the drink. But then I tried using some soy sauce, which completely changed the flavor profile of the drink. Unfortunately, it ended up tasting like soy sauce rather than Coke.

Now, let's try another method to make this drink taste more like traditional Coke. According to one theory, there's a secret recipe out there that uses a combination of ingredients to replicate the distinctive taste of Coca-Cola. Some recipes even include things like vanilla extract and lemon essential oil to give it that exact flavor. I'm not sure if these methods will work for me, but I'm willing to try anything at this point.

One method I tried was adding some grapefruit juice and other berries to create a fruity blend. Unfortunately, the result was more like a strange, burnt caramel flavor rather than Coke. But then I added some grapefruit and it tasted much closer to traditional Coke. However, even with these ingredients, it's still not quite replicating that exact taste.

I decided to try one last method before giving up on this experiment entirely. According to the recipe, we need to add a small amount of brown substance in order for the drink to have that distinctive cola flavor. I'm not sure what this substance is supposed to be or where it's coming from, but let's give it a shot.

As I added the final ingredient and watched it bubble up into the glass, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. Would this finally do it? Would we have created a healthy version of Coke that tastes like traditional Coke?

Finally, after adding ice to the glass, I took my first sip. And guess what? It's Coke! The flavor is unmistakable, even though we didn't use any artificial sweeteners or sugar. There's something in this recipe that really replicates that distinct cola taste that we all know and love.

While this version of Coke may not be the healthiest option, it's a fun experiment to try and recreate that classic taste without using traditional ingredients. And who knows? Maybe one day we'll have a healthy alternative that tastes just as good as the original.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(playful music)- Greetings, my beautifullovelies, it's Emmy.How are you?It's great to see you.And welcome back to my kitchen.Today, we are going to be making somethingthat so many of you havejust recently requestedand it is for healthy Coke.Is there such a thing?Is Coke unhealthy?I would say in large quantities,anything is probably pretty unhealthy,but this claims to be healthy.And it is made of two ingredients:sparkling water flavored,apparently any flavor,and balsamic vinegar.My straw is rolling across.Okay.And I suspect as many,I'm sure you do as well,that this combinationwill not taste like Coke.I mean, just simply becauseit doesn't contain any sugar.And part of the pleasure,in my opinion, of Coke,is that sugary sweetness balancedwith all that flavory yumminessthat is Coke and ice and carbonation.But, but.But!It looks like Coke, right?It's brown and it's fizzy.So, so it could taste like Coke?Highly skeptical, but I'mgonna try and go into thiswith an open mind.I believe this was started by Amanda Joneson the Ticky Ticky Toks.And I'll put a link downbelow to their original video.And the story goes thatthis was introducedby a Pilates teacher thatsaid it tastes like Coke.it's healthy, and Amanda swears to Godthat this tastes like Coke.What immediately set off my alarm bellsin terms of the suspicion ofwhether this is going to tastelike Coke or not was the factthat you could use any kindof flavored seltzer.Any kind will work, which Ifind very, very surprising,because in my opinion, Cokehas a very complex flavorand it doesn't taste likeraspberry or grapefruitor any of those kindsof things, or vinegar.Although Coke is very acidic --you can clean pennies with it.So enough gibber gibber gibbering.Let's go ahead and make this.We're gonna fill our glass with some ice.To that, we're going to adda splash of balsamic vinegar,otherwise known in ourhouse as ball sack vinegar.Love the stuff, makes great salads.And it has a really dark, caramely color.And we're going to add a splash of that.I would say that was about a teaspoon.No exact measures given in this recipe.Try the grapefruit.I love seltzer.Drink lots of it, but I prefer it plain.I know, very boring.So I don't really drink theflavored ones too often.This is supposed to be grapefruit.Yeah.Kind of citrusy, grapefruity essence.And we're just gonnapour that into our glass.Will you look at that?Has the caramely dark color of Coke.(ice cubes clicking)Looks like Coke, butdoes it taste like Coke?Before I even taste this,my suspicion is it's gonnataste a lot like a shrub.A shrub is a sparkling fizzy beveragethat's made with vinegar.I think that's what thisis gonna taste like.I love that.I love kombucha.Love it.I used to make it myself.In fact, I have a videoon this here YouTubes.I'll put a link down below to itwhere I show you how tomake homemade kombucha.Love fermented drinks, loveacid, love vinegary drinks.So here we go.Kampai.It doesn't taste like Coke.It doesn't taste like Coke.Having said that, itdoesn't taste bad either.Definitely vinegary.Add a little bit more ofthat flavored seltzer.(ice cubes clattering)I don't mind the flavors of vinegarand the kind of likeacidic-ness of the vinegar,but I don't necessarilywant that just by itself.In fact, when I have kombucha,I love the ginger kombucha.That one's my hands down favorite.I feel like it takes theedge off the vinegar.I love the acidity,but I don't necessarilywant the strong aromathat comes with vinegar.You know what I mean?So adding the flavoredseltzer kind of perfumes that.It kind of masks thatcloying strong vinegary smellthat you often smell in your kitchenwhen you make salad dressing.And I personally don't want to necessarilybe drinking salad dressing.That's just my association with vinegar.Yours might be completely different, but,it's not horrendous.It definitely doesn't taste like Coke.It tastes like a more acidic version ofthis grapefruit flavor thatI happen to be drinking.And since this is citrus,and I associate sour notes with citrus,I think it actually workspretty well with the vinegar.Let's try it with black raspberry.Maybe having it with this willmake it taste more Coke-like.Splash of vinegarBloop.That smells like a eraser ora strawberry shortcake friend.Tastes like one too.Wow.Ooh, it's like vanilla.Not, not a fan.Okay, but let's try it like this.Maybe the vinegar will do something.Cheers.Still doesn't taste like Coke.But the vinegar does improve this a lot.Kind of waters down thekind of perfume that I smelland taste of the black raspberry.It's not bad.Very refreshing.And as just a beverage on itsown, I don't mind it at all.I quite like it.It does taste artificial.I think that's my biggest beefwith these flavored seltzersis that the flavortastes artificial to me.Nothing against artificial flavors.Like them in the right context.But when I drink fizzy,I just want fizzy water.I love the carbonation of the water.I like the gas in my water.And if I want flavor,sometimes we'll squeeze a limeor a lemon, or something like that.But most of the time,I'm just like a straight up fizzy girl.I just like the effervescence, you know?But I'm not giving up on this experiment.Let's try this.This is a reduction of balsamic vinegar.It's like a syrup,so more concentrated.Maybe this will give us moreof those caramely syrupy notesthat we're thinking ofwhen we think of Coca-Cola.Some of this syrup in there.Ooh, looks like chocolate syrup.But it's not, it's vinegar.Okay, this is definitelynot mixing as well.That's not looking too attractive.That looks like a, adeposit that you might findin the toilet.We have chunks.No.The original is better.Caramely.And not as acidic and just not very good.So let's continue with this theorythat if it looks like Coke,it's gonna taste like Coke.What happens if we use some soy sauce?It's brown.A little splash of that.Ooh.Looks just like Coke.Alrighty, let's see ifit tastes like Coke.No, it tastes like soy sauce. (chuckles)Wow, that's pretty terrible.My gosh.Very salty.The soy sauce definitelyoverpowers anything.Does not taste like Coke.This is molasses.It's brown.This is syrupy.Because we can use any soda we want,let's add some grapefruitand the rest of our berry.Similar to the balsamicreduction, is not mixing well.Nope.It's like a ball of tarat the bottom of my glass.Let's give it a taste.Here we go.Hmm.No, nope.Definitely doesn't taste like Coke.It tastes like a strange fruity blendwith a very odd burnt caramel flavor.Terrible.Let's try this brown substance.And will you look at that?It smells like that familiar cola smell.Let's give it a taste.Here we go, cheers.Yeah.That's Coke.(Emmy laughs)Effervescent, fizzy with that flavorthat I can't really pinpoint.I've heard that there's a little bit ofclove essential oil in that,but there's just some kind ofCola mystery that makes Cola.Although I think there are recipeson how to make homemade Coke,which I have not attempted,but yeah, that's it.That's it right there.Alrighty, my lovelies.I hope you enjoyed that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media,like this video, subscribe,and I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo, take care.Bye!(light upbeat music)Oh, let's compare this to this.There is something thatis just so pleasurableabout drinking Coke out of a glass bottle.Although this is quitehigh up on the list too.Ice in the glass.I don't know which one's better.It's fizzier outta the bottle.Mhmm.But the icy, icy coldness of this,it's hard to beat.All right, lovelies.\n"