• FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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    6 days ago

    Banana Candy is one of those legacy flavors from a time in the past when our ability to create artificial flavors was extremely limited.

    • plenipotentprotogod@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Isoamyl acetate, the chemical which is traditionally used for artificial banana flavor, was first synthesized in the UK where it was marketed as Jargonelle pear flavor. Companies importing it to the US believed that the American public wouldn’t be interested in pear candy, so they decided to call it banana flavor instead.

      Also, as an aside, Lecroy now sells “sunshine” flavored sparkling water which I’m 90% sure is flavored with isoamyl acetate. I think they just decided to lean into the fact that it tastes distinctly fruity, but not like any one fruit in particular.