Homestead mailing list

["Karen L. Black" <karen AT plamondon.com>]

Bev writes:

> The can was from 2004, a diet coke.

Aspartame does lose its effectiveness over time. That's why diet drinks now
have a six-month "best by" date on the can. I found a can of Diet Pepsi that
was a year and a half old, and it had definately lost its sweetness.

> Surely, I am thinking, there must be another use for them...it's not like
they are 'spoiled' or anything.

To use old soda, there's always the Diet Coke and Mentos gag (found all over
the web, including
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/08/diet_coke_mentos_rap.html): drop a
Mentos into a freshly-opened bottle (or can) of Diet Coke to cause an
eruption. The Mythbusters team found that salt works just as well. You could
try a piece of chalk or a Tums for comparison.

Cheers,
Karen Black
Blodgett, OR