About thirty years ago in grocery stores there was no particular choice of soft drinks. Now the regiments of the corresponding departments are bursting with an abundance of a wide variety of sparkling waters, juices, fruit drinks, etc. All this, of course, is very good, but their safety for the human body is often questionable. The same famous brands of good quality, such as the Baikal drink, are finding it harder and harder. Why are they so good?
A bit from the history of Baikal
This tonic drink was created by specialists of the Moscow soft drinks factory in 1973. It was based on natural herbs, such as St. John's wort, Eleutherococcus, licorice. Ordinary consumers liked Baikal very quickly, but its industrial production was not easy. This is due to one of the components of the drink - licorice, which promotes foaming. It turned out that serious technical difficulties arose when bottling.
They have not been completely overcome now, but some companies took a different path - they began to produce the drink in a plastic container, something even more convenient. The product is completely natural, which differs from most imports, and, unfortunately, is perishable for this reason. Therefore, there are many fakes, which are produced on an industrial scale. They are made without useful herbs, using simplified technology. When buying, pay attention to the composition of the drink.
Drink "Baikal": useful properties
"Pepsi", "Coca-Cola" - those drinks whose consumption must be seriously limited. And it’s better not to drink at all, because they do not bring benefits, but in large quantities they are also harmful. It is better to use natural Baikal, it completely lacks any dyes, and it tastes almost the same as Coca-Cola, and the cost is lower. Our native drink is unique in its composition, foreign manufacturers have not been able to reproduce it. The herbs included in it have a number of long-known beneficial properties.
Here are some examples. Red cold elderberry is an effective remedy for colds , licorice root is used to normalize the pressure , inflammation removes medicinal sage. Angelica is rich in iron, calcium and phosphorus; Altai Greek improves digestion. And that’s all - Baikal drink. Thanks to the extracts of herbs contained in it, it also perfectly tones and refreshes, gives a boost of energy.
The composition of the drink "Baikal"
And now it's time to familiarize the reader with the most detailed composition of our favorite drink. Exactly what is part of the 1973 recipe. So, the drink "Baikal" composition, according to the recipe of 1973, has this:
- drinking treated water;
- white crystalline sugar;
- phosphoric acid (acidity regulator), sodium benzoate (preservative), natural aromatic substances;
- herbal flavor, which includes extracts of sage, wormwood, angelica root, gentian, coriander;
- natural aromatic substances: hop oil, eucalyptus, laurel oil, apple natural flavoring, elderberry and licorice root extract, distillate of wine yeast.
You need to store the Baikal drink, the composition of which you now know, at a temperature of up to 20 degrees, the shelf life is six months.
Which Baikal can now be bought in stores
As we see, only a drink with the above components can be considered real. In retail outlets you can sometimes find such a "Baikal". The price of a liter bottle for February 2015 is from 85 rubles. Some manufacturers value their reputation, as a result of which they produce a drink containing extracts of real medicinal plants and herbs. Some "manufacturers" fill their bottles with a whole bunch of different sweeteners, for example E-954, E-952, E-951, E-950, as well as preservatives and artificial flavors.
Sometimes in the composition you can find a flavor enhancer, attributed to natural flavors, which is very doubtful. So, when buying "Baikal", carefully read the label. Also keep in mind that a quality drink will foam very much with a lot of small bubbles.
Soft drinks classification
Having a huge number of the most varied drinks on store shelves, we suddenly find that we are very poorly versed in them. First, which ones are considered non-alcoholic? These are drinks containing ethyl alcohol of not more than 0.5%, if the alcohol-containing raw materials are not more than 1.2%. Non-alcoholic drinks are classified into groups:
- juice-containing;
- on flavorings;
- on vegetable aromatic raw materials;
- on grain raw materials;
- kvass and fermented drinks;
- special purpose.
In turn, juice drinks are divided into soft drinks, fruit, juice, nectar type. For their production, berry-fruit semi-finished products are used: syrups, extracts, concentrated, alcoholized, natural juices. Non-alcoholic drinks are also divided into non-carbonated and carbonated. The latter, in turn, are divided into slightly carbonated, medium carbonated and highly carbonated. Special drinks include so-called energy drinks.
What drinks are considered tonic
Despite the fact that the most famous tonic drinks are coffee and tea, this list does not end there. There are others, such as hot chocolate and cocoa. And if we talk about cold invigorating drinks, then there are several groups of them. Most of them are produced in specialized factories and sold in bottles, cans and special packaging. We are talking about “Sprite”, “Coca-Cola” and, of course, “Baikal”, as well as various energy drinks, tonics. You can also highlight the drinks that are prepared in restaurant kitchens, in bars and at home.
They are most often made from a large number of citrus fruits with the addition of other fruits. Very often several juices are mixed, which, in addition to tonic, gives a refreshing effect.