Darcy S. ONeil
patreon
Caramel as an Emulsifier
🕑 Added 2025-06-05 18:02:17 +0000 UTCThis video can change the way you develop drinks, especially if you want a non-alcoholic option that will emulsify hard-to-work-with essential oils. It may even be an option to develop cannabis type drinks where solubility is an issue. And it is the proper way to make a cola recipe; in fact, Pepsi patented this method back in the 1960s and is still used today. If you look at a can of Pepsi or Coke, you won't see an obvious emulsifier, but you will see caramel, and that is the emulsifier. It is not just for colour.
I've attached some patents below if you're interested in the technical details, which can provide valuable insight into how this became the go-to emulsifier for cola-type beverages. However, it should work for almost any flavoured beverage, as long as you're willing to accept a dark brown appearance.
Density
I didn't talk about it in the video, but emulsion will eventually float, even with caramel. The shelf-life will still be good, but not indefinite. To change density, companies used to incorporate brominated vegetable oil (heavier than water) to make the density of the flavour droplet the same as the density of the beverage, which prevented "creaming" or "ringing" which are both terms describing when emulsions float to the top of a bottle or can.
When it comes to shelf-stability, the primary method used by corporations is to ensure the product doesn't remain on the shelf for very long.
If you are looking for an example of a caramel to use, I believe Durkee Caramel Food Color will work.
Thank You
As I mentioned in the video, thank you for being a member on Patreon. This channel and its content has stagnated since 2023; in fact, viewership is trending down. I'm going to assume this is the Seth Godin "Dip" before great things happen, but without your support on Patreon I would not have made it this far. These videos are more expensive to produce, compared to aspirational talking head videos that teach you nothing, but make you feel good. The spike on the graph below was due to advertising efforts aimed at increasing viewership. It didn't work.
Anyway, if you have questions please post them below.
Comments
Darcy S. O'Neil
The issue with the compound 4-MEI was a problem 20 years ago, and most caramel producers have modified their processes to reduce it to negligible levels. Coke has it down to the 10 μg/L (micrograms per litre) range. Dark roast coffee contains around 1450 μg per litre (150 times more than Coke), and dark beers can be even higher. This is because when you roast something (grain, coffee bean, etc.), the sugar and amino acids react to produce 4-MEI, and you can't modify the process; it is a natural occurrence. But caramel manufacturers can modify the process since they control the type of sugar and the nitrogen and sulphur source, as well as the pH and temperature which allows them to precisely control the process to produce close to no 4-MEi. When you toast bread or cook a chicken or caramelize anything, you get 4-MEI. If you want to skip the caramel, you will need another emulsifier. I'll be doing a Crystal Pepsi video in the near future. Modern caramel is not an issue.
Gossip Gist
What are your thoughts on the carcinogenic effects of type IV caramel? Is it really needed to get the Cola flavor, or can it be skipped completely?
Darcy S. O'Neil
It will only work with Type IV. Are you in the US? I believe Durkee makes a type iv. I will also be making a video on hos to make it at home, it is relatively easy I just need to do some tests.
Olivier Huens
Do you think this will work with type III caramel too? I can't find type IV around here...
