Orbitz, the lava lamp-inspired food creation, was a noncarbonated fruit-flavored beverage, made by the company Clearly Canadian Beverage Corporation, that had small edible balls floating in it. It was introduced around 1997 and quickly disappeared due to poor sales. The small balls floated due to their nearly equal density to the surrounding liquid, and remained suspended with assistance from an ingredient known as gellan gum. The gellan gum provided a support matrix – something like a microscopic spider web – and had a visual clarity approaching that of water, which increased with the addition of sugar. Continue reading for more.
