Junk Food Nation, some random thoughts today.

1) Happy Birthday to my friend Andrew, fellow football fan, writer, government something (still not sure what his job fully entails), music lover, and avid runner. He also bakes a damn good cookie.  Follow his blog here, and his classical music reviews here. My gift to him: a screenshot of the University of Maryland football team’s uniforms, which I LOVE.

OOOOH YEAH

Yeah, it’s not a great gift, but I know he’ll appreciate it.

2) So the BIG 12 has ten teams, and the BIG 10 has twelve teams?? Annoying. Just merge them all into the SECCCCBIG50 conference.  My head is spinning from all this Texas A&M bullshit.  Someone wake me when the Bowl games start.

3) With regard to 2), now I understand how people who didn’t care about the NFL lockout felt.

Today’s junk food is a drink – I hadn’t done one of these in a while.  And since it’s Classic Thursday, I decided to go with one I hadn’t had in such a long time (over a decade) — TING!

The Money Shot

Picture this: the year is 2000, and I’m in college (shut up).  I’m in an a cappella group (shut up) called the Nassoons and we are working over winter break – singing shows at this awesome spot known as the Bitter End Yacht Club.  Situated in the British Virgin Islands, it was paradise.  We sailed all day, swam, hit on vacationing college chicks, and partied all night.

And at the end of the night, we’d stumble back to our rooms and there would be baskets of these complimentary drinks, tiny green bottles known only as TING!  Of course, in our drunken and hazy stupor, the name of the drink seemed hilarious to us.  It became an inside joke; that is to say, it was unfunny to anyone else yet repeated over and over again within the group to raucous laughter.

Desnoes & Geddes

Needless to say, I drank bottles and bottles of this amazing grapefruit soda made by Desnoes and Geddes, a company that was acquired by Guinness and then eventually Pepsi-Co.  I remember it tasting great, but always figured that I would never see it again in the states.  These were the days before Wikipedia – I had no idea what its distribution radius was, or where I could buy it.  Out of sight, out of mind.

Now THIS reminds me of sunshine

Then over the weekend, I’m walking through a random Target Store in Wheaton, Maryland, scoping out new junk food treats to review, when BAM! THERE IT IS.  Rows and rows and rows of TING!  My island drink, here in suburban Maryland!  As the label indicated, I felt like, indeed, a little ray of sunshine had just shone down on me.  I grabbed one.

Yay no high fructose corn syrup!

Ting is simple: it’s a grapefruit soda that is made with fruit juice, soda water, sugar, and a few extras.  No high fructose corn syrup.  No long list of preservatives.  Just plain old liquid sunshine in a bottle.

I wasn’t sure if I remembered what it tasted like.  You have to understand: this was like discovering an old box of letters from an ex-girlfriend, or finding an old baseball glove – I had forgotten this drink even EXISTED.  Trying to recall it felt like trying to recall a prior life experience.

JAMAICA ME THIRSTY!

Sidenote: This is clearly my favorite Jamaica thing.  Not rum, not spices, not jerk chicken, not Bob Marley, notthe bobsled team – this drink trumps all.

Can't...really..tell from this camera shot...

When looking at the bottle prior to opening, I could see a sort of cloudiness in the bottle – that’d be the real grapefruit pulp that is in every bottle of Ting.  My camera was unable to capture it. But imagine what you see in a bottle of Orangina – that’s kind of what you get here.  REAL FRUIT PULP IN MY SODA. Um, amazing.

Twist for refreshment!

Fun facts: Ting plus Vodka makes VING, and Ting plus Rum makes TING ‘N STING.  The perfect mixer? I think so.

Part 2 of what my camera can't capture...

Opening the bottle, there was the clear waft of CO2 and water vapor that floated up pleasingly (although you can’t see it above, really).  I tipped the bottle back, and drank…

BAM!  All those memories flooded back from that trip, including juicy ones that shall remain untold (my secrets can be bought, followers, with cases of Ting).

The review: the taste of Ting was amazing.  Like a super sugary Fresca – I love grapefruit juice, and the tang of the juice mixes so well with the sweetness of the pure sugar.  It’s like D&G took a bunch of those sour chewy grapefruit candies, liquified them and carbonated it all.  The carbonation is fine like a good champagne and unoffensive to the throat, unlike some raw sodas.

No sour aftertaste like you might expect from grapefruit flavored drink, and no overly tart bite like you get from normal grapefruit juice.  Just enough citric acidity to pucker your lips.  All in all, very refreshing and tasty. Purchase at your local Target, where I got it.  You’ll fine me there buying more.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy