It’s 2023 & We Still Don't Know What’s In Dr Pepper
Soda drinkers may be loyal to Coke or Pepsi, but one beverage that deserves more hype is definitely Dr Pepper. It’s truly the dark horse of the dark sodas. Dr. Pepper was first served in 1885, before Coca-Cola was even invented, making it the oldest soft drink in the United States. And in the 138 years since its creation, Dr Pepper's top-secret proprietary blend of 23 flavors has remained a mystery.
If you look at the nutrition facts on the can, the ingredients list vaguely states that Dr Pepper is made with natural and artificial flavors. This FDA-approved term is meant to protect brands' secret recipes. And it's because of this complex blend of flavors that it’s so difficult to pinpoint the exact ingredients that make up this unique soft drink.
It’s evocative of cola, it's fruit-forward, and it has a hint of warm spices. Dr Pepper has a certain je ne sais quoi we can't describe. There are a lot of theories about what exactly is in the soda, and one of the most prominent rumors is that it's made with prune juice. The Dr Pepper team has famously been tight-lipped about the exact ingredients, but they vehemently deny the prune juice rumors. "No one is quite sure when or how the story that Dr Pepper contained prune juice started, but it has never been true," they say on their official website.
There may be no prune juice in Dr Pepper, but it's important to note that most popular soft drinks are not made with fresh ingredients anyway. Instead, their recipes are made with concentrated extracts and flavorings that replicate the taste of fresh ingredients. Without any solid confirmation of Dr Pepper's ingredients, the public can only speculate about what's truly in it. So we're rounding up all the flavors and extracts believed to be part of Dr Pepper's secret recipe.
Fruit
Dr Pepper’s official website states that that their soda is “a blend of many fruit and flavor extracts." Fans of the soda have guessed that there are nine different fruit and vegetable extracts that contribute to its sweet taste.
Blackberry
Carrots
Cherry
Lemon
Orange
Prune
Plum
Raspberry
Tomato
Botanicals
If you’re not familiar with what a botanical is, it’s essentially an umbrella term for any plant-based flavoring used for its aromatic, medicinal, or culinary properties. They’re often a primary ingredient in distilled spirits, most notably gin. Botanicals can be derived from any part of a plant: leaves, seeds, roots, stems, flowers, you name it. Herbs and spices technically fall under this category as well. Here are the 13 botanical extracts and botanically-based flavorings that are believed to be part of Dr Pepper’s proprietary formula:
Amaretto
Almond
Root Beer
Rum
Vanilla
Black Licorice
Nutmeg
Juniper
Pepper
Clove
Ginger
Cola
Sweeteners
You can’t have a soda without some form of sweetener. And while Dr Pepper gets its sweet taste from the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup, fans argue that they also use extracts that replicate the complexity of other forms of sugar. These are the flavors that allegedly give Dr Pepper the special sweetness we know and love:
Molasses
Caramel
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