Kayle Brandon, Kate Rich.


6/9/05. SUCCESS!!! 
after almost 2 years' struggle in the wilderness.

Bristol weather:fine warm & sunny.
Success seemed to be arrived at via a combination of
technique (force applied during blending process),
knowledge (assisted greatly via conversations with
inhouse advisor Richard Grove) and corrected ingredients 
- specifically the instant gum arabic, supplied as a
'sample' (1.3kg) by Colloides Naturels (UK) LTD
www.cniworld.com.

First we made the 7x mix, using a hybrid of the original
open cola recipe (proportions & types of oils) and the pdf
recipe from CNI (emulsification proportions).

2x batch: used a measuring syringe to measure:

7 ml orange
2 ml lemon
2 ml nutmeg
2.5 ml cassia
0.5 ml coriander 
0 ml neroli, because it's expensive
5.5 ml lime
0.5 ml lavender

(0.5ml is tempting to measure via drops, but we found
there is no standard ml/drop for oils, as it varies
greatly between substances, see
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00578.htm)

st werbergh's post office were again pleased to act as
public weighstation, weighing 15ml (1 testtube) gum
arabic so that we can have a standard ml-to-grams
conversion rate:

st werberghs chemist have ceased selling measuring
syringes, reason unclear.

following approximately the cola emulsion recipe forwarded
by CNI HQ in Rouen:

20% oils mix
20% gum arabic in the form of Instangum IRX 49345 from CNI
60% water.

in this case: 

18 ml oils (the above recipe made 19.5 ml)
18 g -> 22.6ml (according to post office measuring system) 
                 gum arabic
54 ml volvic.

we dissolved gum arabic into volvic with a mortar and pestle.
gum mixed in easily, reminiscent of cornflour.

we approached the emulsification in 2 stages, using the
jerry rigged bosch mixer (bosch cordless drill with
kitchen whisk attachement) in a glass jar only slightly
larger in diameter than the whisk, to approximate the
effect of shearing

1. low speed: drizzled the oils into the gum solution in a
steady stream,using the measuring syringe.

2. high speed: once all the oils were inserted,
approximately 2 minutes at maximum safe speed of bosch.

a cloudy emulsion formed.

we then returned to the original open cola recipe to make
the syrup, using:

5 ml of the 7x mix (oil/water emulsion)
2 L water (volvic, for low calcium advantage)
2 kg sugar (saudi arabian, from the Souk market on jamaica st)
1 tsp citric acid - less than the recipe suggested, but going 
easy, can adjust later to taste)
15 ml approx. double strength caramel colour (DD williamson) 

the emulsion seemed stable: no oily slick on surface. at
this dilution, the syrup was translucent, and roughly
cola-coloured. the 2 L of syrup will make around 8L of
cola, once fizzy water is added.