Ever noticed the yellow-capped Coca-Cola bottles during March and April each year? The Coca-Cola in those bottles is made with a different, special recipe and they are especially made during the Jewish Passover.
It is the result of a burgeoning market in kosher for Passover soda. Jews are not allowed to eat products made from wheat, corn or other grains during the eight days of Passover. Most commercial sodas, with heavy doses of corn syrup and traces of alcohol from grain, are therefore forbidden.
In the 1930s, orthodox rabbi Tobias Geffen was given Coca-Cola's secret list of ingredients. He then managed to persuade the soft drink giant to create an alternative for Jews. The yellow cap bottles therefore contain real sugar rather than corn syrup.
"Because Coca-Cola has already been accepted by the general public in this country and Canada and because it has become an insurmountable problem to induce the great majority of Jews to refrain from partaking of this drink, I have tried earnestly to find a method of permitting it's usage," Geffen said.
Pepsi, Sprite, Sierra Mist and many other soft drinks are now also available in kosher form for Passover. Many consumers prefer the cane sugar variety and it is not only the devout who stock up during Passover.
