Any child of the 80s and 90s can agree on one fact - Hi-C's Ecto Cooler was
the drink. Yeah, it had Slimer from
The Real Ghostbusters
on the front and all, and that was cool, but even as kids we knew that product tie-ins for approximately everything under the sun would always come and go.
Batman Cereal, anyone? The unique flavor is what really kept us coming back.
That shit was delicious.
However, it was never meant to last. By 2001, the product was finally discontinued after a respectable run of 10+ years. Hi-C used the formula under different names for a bit longer, but at present time, it's been officially off shelves for a good while now. As such, Ecto Cooler joined the ranks of Surge, Crystal Pepsi, Dr. Pepper Red Fusion, and so on: discontinued drinks loved so dearly by a select few that they'd actually resort to buying random old boxes off of eBay.
It sounds crazy, but that shit
happens. The practice has even been popularized by Internet superstars such as
Matt from X-Entertainment and
Brad Jones the Cinema Snob. Fortunately, thanks to a recipe from the fine folks at
Ghostbusters: Chicago Division, you can skip eBay all together and mix up a fresh batch of Ecto Cooler any time you want!
Here's what you'll need:
1 Packet Kool Aid/Flavor Aid Orange
1 Packet Kool Aid/Flavor Aid Tangerine
3/4 Cup Orange Juice (No Pulp)
3/4 Cup Tangerine Juice or 1 can mashed Mandarin Oranges
1/3 scoop
Country Time Lemonade
(Regular or Pink)
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
Green and blue food coloring for color. (at CGS - we say...bah)
Directions:
1) In a 1 Gallon pitcher, start by putting in your orange juice and tangerine juice. If you happen to be using the Mandarin oranges as a juice source, be sure to strain the pulp.
2) After your juices are in, put in the packets of Flavor Aid and the 1/3 scoop of Lemonade mix and mix up the concentrate. The Lemonade is used to make the mixture slightly more bitter to give it the zing the original Ecto-Cooler had. You may have to adjust to get it to your taste.
3) Add water, put in your sugar and stir until dissolved. Again, if you're using Countrytime Lemonade, sugar is already added to the mixture so you might have to adjust for your personal taste by adding more sugar than the stated 1 1/2 cups.
4) Add your food coloring. The red in the Flavor Aid is deep enough to skew the color of the green, but with enough drops, you can make it green. It won't be that happy bright green we remember, but at least it'll be green. You also want to add a few drops of the blue in the mix to get it a more even green.
We haven't tried it yet, but when we do, we're skipping the food coloring nonsense. Taste is all that matters, see. We'll be sure to update when we've given it a taste. Excite! If you happen to find the recipe through Castle Geek-Skull and then go off to try it, please report in and let us know what you think!
Source: Ghostbusters Chicago Division
