Royal Crown Cola and salted peanuts

[franksolich]

I've been watching a certain thread on freerepublic, and among the miscellanea mentioned therein is Royal Crown Cola and salted peanuts.

I'm not sure where Royal Crown Cola's major market was (which part of the country), but as a little lad, I recall seeing it here in Nebraska, where it was of course overshadowed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, but it was around, and usually a few cents cheaper than its larger competitors.

I haven't seen it for years and years now, though; but don't read too much into that, as I don't pay much attention to sodas.

Someone on the thread in freerepublic (no use linking to the thread, because it's 99.99% something else) mentioned dumping a small sack of salted peanuts into a bottle of Royal Crown Cola.

I vaguely recall seeing this as a child, maybe three or six times.  It might sound odd, but it does sound palatable, albeit weird.

Does anyone here remember doing this, and why the custom evolved?

[ChuckJ]

I've been watching a certain thread on freerepublic, and among the miscellanea mentioned therein is Royal Crown Cola and salted peanuts.

I'm not sure where Royal Crown Cola's major market was (which part of the country), but as a little lad, I recall seeing it here in Nebraska, where it was of course overshadowed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, but it was around, and usually a few cents cheaper than its larger competitors.

I haven't seen it for years and years now, though; but don't read too much into that, as I don't pay much attention to sodas.

Someone on the thread in freerepublic (no use linking to the thread, because it's 99.99% something else) mentioned dumping a small sack of salted peanuts into a bottle of Royal Crown Cola.

I vaguely recall seeing this as a child, maybe three or six times.  It might sound odd, but it does sound palatable, albeit weird.

Does anyone here remember doing this, and why the custom evolved?

I remember it down here in the south, but I can't tell you how it came to be.

[franksolich]

I remember it down here in the south, but I can't tell you how it came to be.

From what I remember--which is very vague--the salt in the peanuts caused the soda to fizzle even more.

And near the end, one drank down the peanuts themselves.

As I mentioned, it sounds odd, but it doesn't sound unpalatable.

[TVDOC]

I did it when I was a kid......you could buy a small bag of Planter's peanuts for a nickle, and any cola would do (also a nickle), not necessarily RC, but the salt would cause the carbonation in the cola to be released, then you crunched the peanuts while drinking the resultant mixture.

Dunno how it originated, but we were doing it in the '50's......worked with "fountain colas" as well as bottles.

doc

[franksolich]

I did it when I was a kid......you could buy a small bag of Planter's peanuts for a nickle, and any cola would do (also a nickle), not necessarily RC, but the salt would cause the carbonation in the cola to be released, then you crunched the peanuts while drinking the resultant mixture.

Dunno how it originated, but we were doing it in the '50's......worked with "fountain colas" as well as bottles.

doc

See, that's what I don't recall.

From what I recall, it had to be done with bottled Royal Crown Cola, no other brand, no other way.

I wonder if it had some sort of southern origin, and over time drifted up north.

[franksolich]

So, I nadined it.

No mention of peanuts, though.

RC Cola (or Royal Crown Cola) is a soft drink developed in 1905 by Claude A. Hatcher, a pharmacist in Columbus, Georgia.

The first product in the Royal Crown line was Chero-Cola in 1904, followed by Royal Crown Ginger Ale, Royal Crown Strawberry and Royal Crown Root Beer. The company was renamed Chero-Cola, and in 1925 called Nehi Corporation after its colored and flavored drinks. In 1934, Chero-Cola was reformulated by Rufus Kamm, a chemist, and re-released as Royal Crown Cola.

In the 1950s, the combination of Royal Crown Cola and Moonpies became popular as the "working man's lunch" in the American South. In 1954, Royal Crown was the first to sell a soft drink in a can, and later the first company to sell a soft drink in an aluminum can.

In 1958, the company introduced the first diet cola, Diet Rite, and in 1980, a caffeine-free cola, RC 100. In the mid-1990s, RC released Royal Crown Draft Cola, billed as a "premium" cola and using pure cane sugar as a sweetener, rather than the high fructose corn syrup more commonly used in the United States.

Offered only in 12-ounce bottles, the cola's sales were disappointing due largely to the inability of the RC bottling network to get distribution for the product in single-drink channels and it was quickly discontinued with the exceptions of Australia, New Zealand and France. It is now only available in New Zealand. The company has also released Cherry RC — a cherry flavored version of the RC soft drink — to compete with Coca-Cola Cherry and Pepsi Wild Cherry.

In October 2000, Royal Crown was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes plc through its acquisition of Snapple. Royal Crown operations were folded into Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., a former subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes. In 2001, all international RC-branded business were sold to Cott Beverages of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and are operated as Royal Crown Cola International which handles RC Cola products outside the United States. In the U.S., distribution is still handled by Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

"Nehi" rings a bell, although I've always associated it with root beer.

When I was a lad working in a mom-and-pop grocery store in the Sandhills, once in a while a Nehi bottle would show up among the returned empty bottles, and the grocer would curse because we didn't handle Nehi, and so had lost a dime in the transaction.

But it seems to me it was always Nehi root beer, and so I thought perhaps root beer was Nehi's only productd.

[TVDOC]

See, that's what I don't recall.

From what I recall, it had to be done with bottled Royal Crown Cola, no other brand, no other way.

I wonder if it had some sort of southern origin, and over time drifted up north.

Never heard that......Royal Crown was readily available to us when we were kids, but generally only if you purchased it at the grocery store, Coke was widely available in "soda fountains" in the drug stores where we hung out.  Also Coke and Pepsi were both sold in crude vending machines.....never saw an RC vending machine.  In restaurants you could generally order RC if you wanted, as well as the other brands....dunno.....

Sounds like a distribution thing.......

doc

[franksolich]

Sounds like a distribution thing.......

And of course you in Missouri and me in Nebraska were probably far from the original market of Royal Crown Cola; things were much more "regional" back then, until the advent of the Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush prosperity, which made transport of goods easier and cheaper.

Another thing about the southern soda market.  It was at a backwoods town somewhere in the wilds of Virginia during the early 1970s that I saw a soda-dispensing machine (we were on a family vacation, and headed back home) where the bottles stood upright in a chest-type cooler filled with water and ice.  One inserted a dime, and pulled the desired bottle along a "channel" to lift it out.

[TVDOC]

The vending machines that I remember from the '50s were sorta like a upright refrigerator (painted red for Coke, and blue for Pepsi).......inside, the drink bottles were mounted in a large rotating drum.......outside there was just a coinslot, a large aluminum lever, and a small door.....

You inserted a nickle in the coinslot, pressed the lever down (which rotated the internal drum), then you opened the door and removed your bottle......

Pretty basic.

doc

[TVDOC]

This is the one that I remember:

[obumazombie]

Ah the days of nickels and dimes buying power at the 5 and 10. Now libs just nickel and dime us to death.

[franksolich]

The vending machines that I remember from the '50s were sorta like a upright refrigerator (painted red for Coke, and blue for Pepsi).......inside, the drink bottles were mounted in a large rotating drum.......outside there was just a coinslot, a large aluminum lever, and a small door.....

You inserted a nickle in the coinslot, pressed the lever down (which rotated the internal drum), then you opened the door and removed your bottle......

Pretty basic.

I'm sure they disappeared a very long time ago, but dispensing-machines giving out bottles were still around in Nebraska as late as 1980 (they're all now canned soda, I think).

The last one I recall seeing was at the old Henkle & Joyce Hardware in Lincoln, where I worked while in college; I think it was a Pepsi-Cola machine, and bottles cost twenty-five cents.  When the soda-man came to refill the machine, he oftentimes had to walk around various parts of the buildings to collect the empty bottles, as people were careless about taking them back to the carrier near the machine.

[TVDOC]

This was apparently the type Royal Crown used during the same period:

[obumazombie]

This was apparently the type Royal Crown used during the same period:

That is beautiful. It reminds me of a TV show that finds relics of americana and restores them to showroom condition.

[franksolich]

This was apparently the type Royal Crown used during the same period:

Okay, that's like the ones I saw in rustic northern Virginia during the early 1970s, although they were usually red in color, and kind of, uh, beat up.  I also don't recall a coin-inserter on the side, but I don't remember where it actually was.

[TVDOC]

Okay, that's like the ones I saw in rustic northern Virginia during the early 1970s, although they were usually red in color, and kind of, uh, beat up.  I also don't recall a coin-inserter on the side, but I don't remember where it actually was.

I think they were available with the coin box on either end......

They were simple mechanical devices, the drinks hung by their necks in the long slots inside.......to buy a drink, you grabbed the next one in the slot of your choice, and moved it into the "gate" which is the area inside next to the coin box......you couldn't remove the bottle without inserting the coin.....the weight of which tripped a lever inside which released the "gate" which swung upward allowing you to remove the bottle from the machine......

doc

[Eupher]

I remember RC Cola being mostly available in the South. As I grew up in Yankeeland, I didn't have close proximity to RC, but on occasional visits to Tennessee, you betcha.

RC and a Moonpie!

[franksolich]

I remember RC Cola being mostly available in the South. As I grew up in Yankeeland, I didn't have close proximity to RC, but on occasional visits to Tennessee, you betcha.

RC and a Moonpie!

That's another thing. 

I grew up seeing the term "moon pie," but never knew what it meant, as I'd never seen one.

Now of course they're ubiquitous, everywhere.

It's another manifestation of the Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush prosperity; what used to be generally "local" because of problems and expenses with transport, are now widely available.

[debk]

I loved grape and strawberry Nehi and Orange Crush. Occasionally my mom would allow me to have some. 

I, too, remember the peanuts in pop, but it was usually Coke or Pepsi, rather than RC. I didn't like it because I thought it made the peanuts soggy. It was a texture thing for me. I also remember RC being available when I was in HS and college in IL. Didn't really care for it, I was a diehard Pepsi fan up until Diet Coke came out and I switched over. (serious withdrawals  but Coke was cheaper in the South than Pepsi was back then)

Never have really cared for moon pies, but I didn't like Hostess Cupcakes either. I liked Ho-Ho's. 

[JohnnyReb]

Oh yes, I did it...R C Cola and peanuts....not just any peanuts, LANCE peanuts.

LANCE was a regional peanut and cracker company back then. I think they're pretty well country wide now.

[franksolich]

Oh yes, I did it...R C Cola and peanuts....not just any peanuts, LANCE peanuts.

The question remaining then, why did you do it?

It sounds eminently palatable, but it's, uh, sort of weird.

[TVDOC]

When I was a lad working in a mom-and-pop grocery store in the Sandhills, once in a while a Nehi bottle would show up among the returned empty bottles, and the grocer would curse because we didn't handle Nehi, and so had lost a dime in the transaction.

But it seems to me it was always Nehi root beer, and so I thought perhaps root beer was Nehi's only product.

OK.....I emailed my SIL, who is a genuine born and bred southern belle, from  Alabama, and here's her take on this subject:

As I remember, Royal Crown was nationally distributed, but was very popular here in the south due to its origins, and remains so today.  Many older southerners will order RC by name in restaurants, bars, and cafes, due primarily to habit, and the fact that it was sold in every tiny corner of the south for so many years, places that Coke and Pepsi wouldn't bother with due to the very limited market.

Nehi is a different story.  Initially Nehi was a line of non-cola soft drinks sold exclusively in the south for decades.  Initially,  they only made orange, but later offered grape, cream, root beer, lenon/lime, etc.  Nehi was so universal in the south that the word "Nehi" became sort of a southern slang term for non-cola soft drink, and older southerners still today will order a "Nehi" in a restaruant, instead of using the words Orange Crush, Seven-Up, etc......to which the waitress will universally respond "what flavor?"

doc

[JohnnyReb]

The question remaining then, why did you do it?

It sounds eminently palatable, but it's, uh, sort of weird.

I guess because I saw older folks doing it.

You drink the drink down to point that it would hold all of the peanuts, then add the nuts and it did change the flavor of the drink but I thought it was even better. Peanuts went real well with the COKEs in the small green bottles.

Also went well with...

NEHI, grape, orange, ginger ale.

Nugrape

Orange Crush

Cherwine

Pepsi

Double cola

...and getting that last peanut or two out of the bottle without benefit of liquid was always fun.





 

[Chris_]

I always figured it made peanuts easier to eat for people with no teeth.

[franksolich]

OK.....I emailed my SIL, who is a genuine born and bred southern belle, from  Alabama, and here's her take on this subject:

Tell the lady "thank you" from me, if you can.

So.....it appears the soft-drink industry originated, or mostly originated, in the south.

The only "off-brand" soda I recall as a teenager--it was then much cheaper than major brands, and came only in cans, and oddly in the Sandhills, no refrigerated space was allotted to it (i.e., it was sold only warm, and one had to take it home and put it into the refrigerator or freezer)--was Shasta, and even that came from Baltimore, which one can, roughly, consider "the south."

Despite that it was usually only nine cents a 12-ounce can (this was circa 1967, 1968), Shasta was generally purchased only by people who had parties where alcohol was served (and hence it was not found in my family).