Why are most cough medicines cherry-flavored?
Dear Straight Dope: Why is it that most cough medicine are flavored with cherries? Why not kiwi or tangerine or banana? — Matt, Long Beach MsRobyn replies: Matt, I feel for you, I really do. As I write this, I’m getting over a nasty chest cold that forces me to take Robitussin to get some sleep. And, yes, it’s cherry-flavored. Let me amend that. To me it tastes like cherry kosher wine mixed with a hefty dose of saccharine. (I’ve been taking generic Robitussin, actually, but the real stuff tastes about the same.) Although most syrups are cherry-flavored, as you point out, I’ve got a bottle of grape-flavored children’s Dimetapp. Grape kosher wine mixed with saccharine would be a step up. But you’re not asking my opinion of cherry cough syrup, rather why the cherry flavor. To find out, we need to look at some history. Liquid medicines are flavored to mask the unpleasant taste of the drugs they contain. That’s an obvious advantage for any product sold over the counter, so many patent medic
