Kool-Aid Totally Explained

Everything about Kool-aid totally explained

Kool-Aid is a brand of artificially-flavored soft drink mix owned by the Kraft Foods Company.

Invention and production

Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins and his wife Kitty in Hastings, Nebraska, USA. Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. To reduce shipping costs, in 1927, Perkins discovered a way to remove the liquid from Fruit Smack, leaving only a powder. This powder was named Kool-Ade. A few years later, it was renamed 'Kool-Aid' due to a change in U.S. government regulations regarding the need for fruit juice in products using the term "Ade". Perkins moved his production to Chicago in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to General Foods in 1953.
Hastings still celebrates a yearly summer festival called Kool-Aid Days

on the second weekend in August, in honor of their city's claim to fame.

Other uses

Dyeing Fabric and Yarn Kool-aid dyes Switchin' Secret (light green/tan), and grape (purple) can be used to tone down the otherwise day-glo colors. A typical formula is one packet of Kool-aid per ounce of fiber, combined with 1/2 cup of water and optionally, a tablespoon of vinegar. Heat is used to set the color, usually by steaming or boiling.

Hair Dye Using a packet of Kool-aid, a spoonful of corn starch, and a small amount of water, a paste can be made and applied to the hair. Kurt Cobain, of the band Nirvana, had his hair dyed with red Kool-Aid before a performance on Saturday Night Live.

Advertising and promotion

The mascot of Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid Man (aka The Big Man), is a large anthropomorphic frosty pitcher filled with Kool-Aid (usually cherry, though other flavors have been used). He was introduced in Kool-Aid advertising shortly after General Foods acquired the brand. In TV and print ads, Kool-Aid Man was known for bursting suddenly through walls, seemingly summoned by the making and imbibing of Kool-Aid by children. His catch phrase is "Oh, yeah!"

"Drinking the Kool-Aid"

The earliest known use of the term in its figurative, non-literal context (that is, outside of descriptions of people actually drinking real Kool-Aid), is from a 1987 quote about former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry in the Washington Post.
   The term is derived from the 1978 cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly called the "Jonestown Massacre", a large majority of the 913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity, compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987.
   The saying "Do not drink the Kool-Aid" now commonly refers to the Jonestown tragedy, meaning "Do not trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever they tell you, don't believe it too strongly." Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is famous for using the term in this manner.
   Having "drunk the Kool-Aid" also refers to being a strong or fervent believer in a particular philosophy or mission -- wholeheartedly or blindly believing in its virtues.
   This expression is often inaccurately assumed to be derived from the activities of the Merry Pranksters, a group of people associated with novelist Ken Kesey who, in the early 1960s, traveled around the United States and held events called "Acid Tests", where LSD-laced Kool-Aid was passed out to the public (LSD was legal in the U.S. until 1966). Those who drank the "Kool-Aid" passed the "Acid Test." "Drinking the Kool-Aid" in that context meant accepting the LSD drug culture, and the Pranksters' "turned on" point of view. These events were described in Tom Wolfe's 1968 classic, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. However, the expression is never used figuratively in the book, but only literally; therefore, the book isn't the origin of the term

Genericized trademark

The Kool-Aid brand is an example of a genericized trademark — a brand name which has become the generic term for a type of product. Different brands of flavored drink powder, such as Flavor-Aid and store brand versions, are sometimes referred to as Kool-Aid, even if the consumer is aware that the product isn't the actual Kool-Aid brand. As such, many uses of Kool Aid now are labeled as Kool Aid brand.

Flavors

Original 6 flavors	Raspberry, Cherry, Grape, Lemon, Orange, Root-Beer
Singles flavors	Cherry, Tropical Punch, Orange, Watermelon, Grape
Sugar-Free flavors	Cherry, Grape, Lemonade, Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical Punch
Agua Frescas flavors	Jamaica, Tamarindo, Mango, Pineapple, Mandarina Tangerine
Other flavors worldwide	Frutas, Frutas Vermilhas, Grape Blackberry, Grosella, Guaraná, Kolita, Lemon, Lemonade Sparkle, Orange Enerjooz, Chocolate. Apple, Berry Blue, Black Cherry, Bunch Berry,Cherry, Cherry Cracker, Cola, Eerie Orange, Frutas, Golden Nectar, Grape, Grapeberry Splash, Great Bluedini, Incrediberry, Kickin-Kiwi-Lime, Lemon-Lime, Lemonade, Man-o-Mangoberry, Mountainberry Punch, Oh-Yeah Orange-Pineapple, Orange, Pina-Pineapple, Pink Lemonade, Pink Swimmingo, Purplesaurus Rex, Rainbow Punch, Raspberry, Roarin' Raspberry Cranberry, Rock-a-dile Red, Rootbeer, Scary Black Cherry, Scary Blackberry, Sharkleberry Fin, Slammin' Strawberry-Kiwi, Soarin' Strawberry-Lemonade, Strawberry, Strawberry Falls Punch, Strawberry Split, Strawberry-Raspberry, Sunshine Punch, Surfin' Berry Punch, Tangerine, Tropical Punch, Watermelon-Cherry

Other Products

Kool-Aid pops (Canada, licensed by Nestlé)

Kool-Aid Twists watermelonFurther Information

Get more info on 'Kool-aid'.

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