Soft Drink and Soda Saturday – Afri-Cola

Afri-Cola is a cola soft drink produced in Germany. The trademark Afri-Cola was registered in 1931 by the company F. Blumhoffer Nachfolger GmbH. The same company also produced Bluna, an orange soft drink. Today the brand belongs to the Mineralbrunnen Überkingen-Teinach AG. Afri-Cola was once one of the most popular cola brands in Germany, but has considerably lost market share since the 1960s.

History

Afri-Cola was registered in 1931 by F. Blumhoffer Nachfolger GmbH, a company founded in 1864 and based based in Cologne. After the Second World War, Afri-Cola became one of the most popular drinks in Germany and a symbol of the German Wirtschaftswunder. In 1952, the company launched Bluna, a lemonade similar to Fanta, which also became a hit among customers. However, in the hard competition of the 60s, Afri-Cola started to lose its influence on the German market to Coca Cola and Pepsi. The commercial designer and photographer Charles Wilp started a marketing campaign to regain its image. However, the market share of Afri-Cola continued to dwindle during the 1980s and 1990s.

Finally, in 1998, German beverage company Mineralbrunnen Überkingen-Teinach AG bought all rights to Afri-Cola and Bluna. This company changed the recipe of Afri-Cola in 1998. The taste of the 1998 drink also differed from that of the original. Also, the caffeine content was 250 mg/L up until 1998, which is higher than the average. At the re-release, it had a content below 150 mg/L so that the content does not need to be listed on the bottle.

However, the new recipe was unpopular. The mixture was again changed to taste more like the original one, the caffeine content was increased in 2005 to around 200 mg/L and caffeine was again listed as an ingredient on the label. This mixture was also not sufficiently successful and on April 1, 2006 the company finally changed back to the original recipe, with caffeine content of 250 mg/L. Since then, Afri-Cola has slightly regained market share.

Availability outside Germany

In the mid-1990s Real Soda LLC, a U.S. company, started importing Afri-Cola into the United States, largely in the Seattle area. At the time it was marketed as “highest caffeine content allowed by law” and positioned to compete with such high caffeine colas as Jolt Cola and +Fukola Cola. In the late 1990s it was widely available at convenience stores and supermarkets in Seattle, and is available in several cafes in Minneapolis. Mineralbrunnen Überkingen-Teinach AG itself exports Afri-Cola to Austria, France, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baked Crab Rangoon / Innbakt Krabbe Rangoon

A classic Chinese recipe found on food.com

These Chinese appetizer is baked instead of fried, making them lower in fat. They are absolutely delicious!

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Stuffed Pancakes / Pannekaker med Kjøttfyll

A recipe from “Varme Småretter” (Hot Snacks), a book in the
“Ingrids Beste” series published by Gyldendal in 1991

This minced meat and pancakes combination is not very common,
but it is certainly worth a try.

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Thick Gingerbread / Tykke Pepperkaker

A recipe from “Cappelens Kokebok”
(Cappelen’s Cook Book) published in 1991

The funny thing about these cakes is that in Norwegian they are called “pepperkaker” (pepper cakes) although there is no pepper in the ingredients – Ted  😉

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Pizza alla Napoletana / Neapolitan Pizza / Napolitansk Pizza

A classic pizza recipe from ”Pizza”, a book in the “Kjøkkenbiblioteket” (The Kitchen Library) series published
by Aventura Forlag  in 1992

Along with Pizza Margherita this specialty from Naples is one of the most popular in Italy. If  baked like the ones on the picture it can be served as an appetizer. And you don’t like anchovies, capers or olives may  be used instead.

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Galletas de Boda / Mexican Wedding Cakes / Meksikansk Bryllupskaker

A recipe from “Mexican Cooking” by Carolyn Dehnel
from the “Internatioal Gourmet” series
published by Crecent Books in 1986

If coloured, these cakes represent the Mexican flag, if kept uncoloured, they represent the bride’s purity.

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Belgian Apple Fritters / Belgiske Friterte Epler

A recipe from “The Best of International Cooking”
published by Hamlyn in 1984

No one familiar with Belgian cooking will be surprised to find that the batter for these fritters feature been – Ted 😉

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Cabbage Roulettes with White Sauce / Kålruletter med Hvit Saus

A traditional dinner recipe from “Gode, Gamle Oppskrifter” (Good, Old Recipes) by Ingrid Espelid Hovig published by Gyldendal in 1991

This is tasty food for young and old. Cabbage roulettes are at their best made with summer cabbage or freshly harvested winter cabbage. Cabbage stored throughout the winter often gets a bit chewy. Leaf of Chinese cabbage can also be used. As filling for cabbage rolls you can use the same farce as for meatball, but make the farce a little looser. Shop bought meat farce has a nice consistency and is easy to use.

Cabbage roulettes has a long tradition as Sunday dinner here in Norway.

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The History of Rowntree & Co’s Cocoa and Chocolate

One strand of the Rowntree story can be traced all the way back to 1725 and a remarkable woman, Mary Tuke.  She came from a prominent Quaker family – her grandfather was one of 4,000 people jailed for their beliefs in the 1660s.

In 1725, at the age of 30, Mary took the unusual decision for a woman of this era to set up a grocery shop.  She took on her nephew William as an apprentice in 1746, and he inherited the business when she died six years later.

The shop went on to specialise in tea, coffee and a chocolate drink bought-in from Bristol.  William’s son Henry followed him into the business and in 1785 they began to manufacture of cocoa and chocolate themselves.

Several decades later, in 1862, Henry Isaac Rowntree purchased the Tukes’ cocoa and chocolate business.  For a teetotal Quaker, there was a social side to the business: chocolate drinks were promoted as an alternative to alcohol for the working man. 

Henry moved the firm from Coppergate to Tanner’s Moat in 1864 and in 1869 he was joined in the business by his brother, Joseph Rowntree.  A breakthrough came in 1881 when, with the help of a French confectioner, the firm began the manufacture of pastilles, previously imported from France.

Joseph realised that tastes were changing.  People wanted a purer product and, after a lot of time and effort, Joseph developed Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa in 1887.  Marketed as ‘more than a drink, a food’, it too proved popular.

Soon demand dictated that Rowntree’s move to larger premises.  In July 1890, a 24-acre site was purchased off Haxby Road for the modern Rowntree’s Cocoa Works.

The firm hit trouble in the years leading up to the Great War, as the popularity of Elect Cocoa declined, and during the depression of the 1920s.  Marketing director and future chairman George Harris used his knowledge of American promotional methods to turn things around.  His policy was based on product development, branding and advertising.  The number of lines was slimmed down and the products which went on to become household names were launched: KitKat, Black Magic, Aero, Dairy Box, Smarties Rolos and Polos all came out in the 1930s.

At its peak, Rowntree’s was a town within a town, employing 14,000 people, though later the workforce was much reduced by mechanisation.  In 1988, Swiss multinational Nestlé bought Rowntree’s in the teeth of major opposition in York.

Text from History of York

Chocolate Meringues / Sjokolade Marengs

A delicate recipe from “The Chocolate Book”
by Valerie Barrett published by Leisurebooks in 1987

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Blueberry Corn Muffins / Maismuffins med Blåbær

One of Elvis’ favourites found in “Are you hungry tonight”
published by Gramercy Books in 1992

These muffins have been a typical treat at Southern roadside cafes since the years when Elvis was growing up.

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Italian Bread / Italiensk Brød

A delicious bread recipe found on food.about.com

Italian bread is the greatest, all-versatile bread you can make. It can be served at lunch or dinner. You can make delicious hoagies with it or turn it into pizza bread. At breakfast, Italian bread is perfect for scooping up the egg yellow on your plate and, when sliced thin, it can be used to make delicious little French toasts.

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Almond Rice Pudding and Cherry Compôte / Risgrøt med Mandler og Kirsebærkompott

A traditional dessert recipe found on bbcgoodfood.com

This is a traditional Scandinavian recipe, often served as part of a Christmas feast – a whole almond is hidden in the pudding and whoever finds it, gets an extra present. Top with a cherry compôte to make it extra special.

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Canadian Apple Fruit Cake / Kanadiske Eplefruktkake

A recipe from a recipe card published by
Paul Hamlyn Ltd. in 1967

Recipe cards like this one was the big craze in the sixties and seventies and most homes had at least one set gathering dust in a plastic box on the kichen counter. We had one, but I remember my mom rather quickly going back to her more traditional cook books – Ted

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Fish Soup Charlottenburg / Fiskesuppe Charlottenburg

A classic recipe found in “Festmat” (Party Food)
published by Hjemmets kokebokklubb in 1982

There’s nothing better than hot, homemade soup to assuage the cold-weather blues. And this classic German fish soup will do the trick every time.

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