Fizzies
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Fizzies are a tablet that, when added to water, will create a soft drink.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origin
In the 1950s, chemists at Emerson Drug Company, creators of Bromo-Seltzer antacid medicine, worked to create a drink tablet that when added to water, would create instant soda pop. Lem Billings, best friend of President John F. Kennedy invented the idea for Emerson by adding a fruit flavor that children liked. Once perfected, they named their invention Fizzies. The small tablet was dropped into a glass of water, they fizzed and created a sweet, effervescent drink.
The formula for the product changed with the times and as various artificial sweeteners were banned by the FDA - It had been sweetened with cyclamates, sucaryl, and saccharin. While the brand was owned by Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Company, it was sold unsweetened with the instructions calling for the addition of "one tablespoon of sugar and ice."
[edit] 1990s
After the introduction of NutraSweet, the brand was resurrected by Premiere Innovations, Inc. in the mid-90s but its availability was short-lived and the company disappeared.
[edit] Present
As of 2006, Fizzies are once again available in seven flavors — sour apple, lemon-lime, root beer, cherry, orange, blue razz and fruit punch. Fizzies are manufactured by Amerilab Technologies in Plymouth, Minnesota, [1] and are marketed as a nostalgic drink to the baby boomer market. In this present incarnation, the product is sweetened with a mixture of sorbitol, acesulfame potassium and sucralose, and contains Vitamin C (in the form of Ascorbic Acid). [2]
[edit] Cultural References
In the motion picture National Lampoon's Animal House, Dean Wormer reads a list of pranks committed by members of the Delta House fraternity, which included dumping an entire truckload of Fizzies into a swimming pool during a meet.
[edit] Related Topics
[edit] See also
- Creamola Foam, a similar drink produced in the UK
