427: Original Recipe
We discover what we believe might be the original recipe for Coca-Cola…and share it with you! When this episode first aired in 2011, it made international headlines. This, and another story about telling copies from originals.
(00:00:00) Act One: The formula for Coca-Cola is one of the most jealously guarded trade secrets in the world. So we were surprised to find a 1979 newspaper article that might contain Coke's original recipe. We were even more surprised to find reasons to believe the recipe is real. (26 minutes)
(00:26:23) Act Two: Jake Halpern tells this story about document expert John Reznikoff, who came into possession of some materials which — if authentic — would change history. Then, things got complicated (32 minutes)
- Duration
- 1h 4m
- Broadcast on
- 11 Oct 2026
- Audio Format
- other
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This message comes from A24 with "You Can See Everything." 34 days before she's set to begin her prison sentence, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes invites Nathan Fielder to move in with her family and document their every move. In theaters October 16th. Hey there everybody. So I'm not going to be around the bush. For this week's radio program, we think we may have found the original recipe for Coca-Cola, and I am not kidding. I am not kidding. One of the most famously guarded trade secrets on the planet. I have it right here. And I am going to read it to you. I'm going to read it to the world. And I'm going to make my case for why I think it's real, despite whatever Coca-Cola might say. And that is just one of the two stories on today's program. Today's show is something we first broadcast 15 years ago. And when we did, it made international headlines. I am not kidding about that. It broke news. But that is so long ago. I bet you've never heard this one, right? From W.B. E.C. Chicago to It's American Life. I'm out of glass. Probably the best story about how protective Coca-Cola is of its secret formula. It comes in this book that was written by Charles Howard Candler. His dad, Asa, did not invent Coca-Cola, but founded the Coca-Cola Company back in 1892. And Charles, the son, wrote this. "One of the proudest moments of my life came when my father initiated me into the mysteries of the secret flavoring formula. Inducting me into the holy of holies." Charles then says "Incredibly, there was no written formula. And the labelists had been removed from all the containers of the ingredients." So they were "identified only by sight, smell, and remembering where each was put on the shelf. And I there upon experience the thrill of making up with his guidance a batch of merchandise 7X. Merchandise 7X. Merchandise 7X is the cartoonishly super-secret Coke and Dagger name they give, the flavoring mixture in Coca-Cola." Charles's dad, Asa, was so paranoid about anybody else getting hold of the secret formula for 7X that,
Transcription truncated.
We discover what we believe might be the original recipe for Coca-Cola…and share it with you! When this episode first aired in 2011, it made international headlines. This, and another story about telling copies from originals.
(00:00:00) Act One: The formula for Coca-Cola is one of the most jealously guarded trade secrets in the world. So we were surprised to find a 1979 newspaper article that might contain Coke's original recipe. We were even more surprised to find reasons to believe the recipe is real. (26 minutes)
(00:26:23) Act Two: Jake Halpern tells this story about document expert John Reznikoff, who came into possession of some materials which — if authentic — would change history. Then, things got complicated (32 minutes)