Truth Behind the Ale

Yes, that's right. Here is the "skinny" on ginger ale.  

I recently found myself under the weather:  aka massively achy body, fever, and total loss of appetite. The best thing to do in those scenarios is run yourself a diet of ginger ale (to help the upset stomach), tea and soup (hot liquids do wonders for achy bodies), and a little sweet and salty food plus protein (to keep your blood sugars in place).  

Ergo, I grabbed for my favorite ginger ale of all times: Canada Dry. This stuff is amazing and has happily gotten me through lots of other colds in the past. I love the flavor and feel it's less "syrup"-y and fake tasting than a number of other GAs. (That's ginger ale for short). Plus, being a bit of a health nut, you can imagine my ecstatic pride when the commercials for Canada Dry boasted the use of "real ginger" in the recipe. I did a little happy dance, patted myself on the back for a product-picking job well done, and grabbed a few more bottles yesterday with added confidence.

Then I looked at the back of said bottles. I wanted to know just where on the ingredient list "ginger" fell, because maybe it was second! How cool would that have been? Yeah, OK, ready? Here is the ingredient list:

Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural flavors, caramel color.  

????????? Did I miss something? I actually re-read the label about four times to ensure I hadn't, in fact, missed anything. Where was the ginger?  

Then, on a tiny label in the corner it said, "a part of the natural flavors includes real ginger." Ah. I see. That is supposed to make me feel better. I am supposed to be assuaged by the fact that a small portion of the 10 percent or less of the natural flavors in this is ginger. Clearly it's not a large enough part or it would be on the ingredient list itself. I see. Wonderful. Yes, yes, good job, GA.  

*Sigh.* Unfortunately, my sense of pride in my favorite GA is deflated. I still love it and will drink it loyally when I'm sick, but it's disheartening that companies can get away with advertising like that when, clearly, it's a misleading ploy. Sadly, Canada Dry is still my favorite, but I guess I'll have to relinquish my health nut here and just say it's simply because of taste.