FOOD NEWS
New Zealand's Symbolic Lemon And Paeroa Soda, Explained
By Jessica Fleming-Montoya
While most people in the U.S. might claim Coca-Cola or 7Up as their favorite soda, if you live in New Zealand, Lemon and Paeroa might be at the top of your fizzy drink list.
Often just called L&P by Kiwis, the lemon-flavored soft drink is made of carbonated water, sugar, lemon flavoring, food acid, and mineral salts.
New Zealand is proud of its L&P beverage, and the drink dates back over a hundred years to a small town in the Waikato region of New Zealand called Paeroa.
The town is home to a natural spring, and in 1907, locals decided to take some of that natural spring water and mix it with lemon juice.
The result was a tasty drink that local manufacturers quickly began bottling and selling as Lemon and Paeroa, thanks to the two primary components.
Eventually, in the 1970s, the local manufacturer was taken over by Coca-Cola. Although it's not well-known outside New Zealand, L&P is presently a Coca-Cola company product.
To commemorate the drink's birthplace, the town of Paeroa showcased a statue of a Lemon & Paeroa bottle over 20 feet tall in the late 1960s.