♫♫ Substitutions ♫♫
After this post people seemed to think I actually love @ID10-T but truth be told, I just wanted to torture him. That task is made significantly more difficult by the fact that he's a masochist. So, without further adieu, I present my second attempt at torturing @ID10-T where I not only substitute both blueberries in his iconic recipe but every other flavor, as well.
Bonus: I'll add notes later, I'm a too busy at the moment.
If you don't have a flavor, just sub in whatever. It doesn't matter.
Revised, reformulated, and remixed. It's been almost 2 years since I made the original
and in the last year it hasn't changed. But I'd kind of always wanted to go back and simplify
the mix. When I got my hands on some WS-23 one of the first things I thought after trying it
was that it was the "Frost" I needed in Blue Frost.
With new found inspiration I decided to strip Blue Frost down to the essentials.
I dropped the FLV Raspberry, FW Razzleberry and TFA Sweetener; the first two because they
are superfluous and the last because I never really used sweetener when I mixed it for myself
(and when I do Cap/PUR Super Sweet are the way to go.)
Wayne was right about the Razzleberry watering down the mix and the candied raspberry
effect it brought to the table was already covered by the combination of Raspberry Sweet and
Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy.
Cap Hibiscus: I'd seen it mentioned several times that this flavor works well in slushee mixes and
in ConcreteRiver's review he describes a "Lingering sticky sweet mouthfeel, again more pronounced with
higher wattages. Almost like the way the syrup in a slurpee sticks to your mouth long after you take
a sip."
And, of course, he's right. It works well to bridge the gaps and enhance the syrupy aspect of Blue Slush.
WS-23: This stuff is the best coolant I've tried, hands down. I worked my way up from .25% and it kept getting
colder and colder with no perceptible off notes or funky muskiness like I get from Koolada (as low as .5%)
At %1 it's a perfect frost, adding all the cold without affecting any of the flavor. This stuff is amazing and
quite addicting, I kind of want to put it in everything now.
The original Blue Frost was 90% where I wanted it and after working on it so long, I was
satisfied with where it was at. Now it's 100% to my palate and officially done. So if you've
tried Blue Frost, please mix this up and let me know what you think :)
Strap-On is like a choose your own adventure recipe, just stick something in there and shake it up, it'll probably be tasty. I've tried many variations of @ID10-T's Strap-On and was surprised to find out that the Mango-Man himself hadn't thought up this one first. Finally releasing it to the world, behold my Manly Strap-On!
This is a tough round. I mean the last one had fewer ingredients and was vaguely about fruit
but this one encompasses so many possibilities it was hard just to decide where to start.
Ultimately I settled on nostalgia: Like most kids candy was my drug of choice. I remember negotiations with my dealer (the asian lady at the corner market) where I'd pour out handfuls of change and handfuls of candy and hope that I'd have enough to cover it all. She was meticulous and miserly but would usually let a few pieces go unpaid for, as long as I wasn't trying to pay for them with bottles and cans. But the corner store was all standard fare, the real treats were on the road. Every month or so we'd go visit my grandparents out in the middle of nowhere (and hour drive felt like a lifetime) and on the way home we'd stop off at a little country store.
They had a rainbow of colorful sodas in glass bottles and literally barrels of candy. Not only was the candy in barrels, the candy I loved was shaped like a barrel.
"Barrels of Yum"
It was years later that I figured out what they were called. Years after the taste and excitement was a distant memory. But thanks to the internet I was able to experience it all again and I was even able to rediscover my favorite flavor among them--Blue Raspberry.
TPA Blue Raspberry: It's the base but it's basic. It's artificial, tangy, sweet and watered down blue raspberry. It's good but not good enough to be alone...
Cap Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy: This rounds out TPA's offering and brings it to life. Just these two alone are an almost perfect representation of the flavor left on your tongue from the little blue barrels.
Cap Jelly Candy: This was not just the only choice but the perfect choice to encapsulate the flavor of the barrels into their hard candy form. It imparts the mouthfeel and makes everything solid.
Cap Blueberry: Time isn't an option so to tone down the inherent dryness of the other ingredients a dash of this brings a touch of juiciness while keeping it blue.
Sweetener: For sugarlips and accuracy.
Lingonberry aka Ikeaberry
If you're not from a Scandinavian country you'll probably only recognize the lingonberry as a sauce paired up with Swedish meatballs at the end of a long journey through Ikea. Fresh Lingonberries, however much they appear to be midget Cranberries, are a unique treat. They're related to both Cranberries and Blueberries but share more similarities with the former in taste and the latter in looks. Lingonberries are, at their core, a sweeter, less tart and slightly bitter Cranberry.
TPA Cranberry:
I'll be upfront, this is not the best Cranberry for the job but it does get the job done. At 3-3.5% it creates all the similarities you expect in a Lingonberry without overpowering the necessary and subtle nuances of the other ingredients. Any higher and it becomes too tart and lower and it disappears.
TPA Huckleberry:
This brings in the Blueberry notes without the musky sock smell and provides some of the bitterness that's lacking in TPA Cranberry.
TPA Raspberry Sweet:
And of course this one brings the sweetness. In this case it brings just enough to make it more palatable than the real thing but not enough to lose the authentic lingonberry flavor.