Florida gets a bad rap for being a crazy state, but it turns out the sunshine state has a lot to offer.
Matt Austin & Ginger Gadsden break down their favorite things that were made in Florida on their podcast Florida’s Fourth Estate.
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5. Gatorade
The popular sports drink was made at the University of Florida.
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“We can all thank an assistant coach and a team of scientists for Gatorade and all those different flavors. They noticed that their players were exhausted and drained and partially collapsing then they figured out there was a formula of electrolytes... and the players seemed to perk up and thus was born Gatorade,” Gadsden said.
4. Publix
“Let’s get us a Pub Sub baby!” Austin said “The world would just not be the same without Publix.
“Publix was founded by George Jenkins. He actually worked as a stock clerk in the ‘20s at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store over in Tampa. He opened the first Publix in 1930 the company has continued to expand ever since,” he added.
The corporate headquarters are based in Lakeland.
3. Orange juice concentrate
“We can give credit to C.D. Atkins who is the inventor of frozen concentrated orange juice,” Gadsden said. “I didn’t even think about that being something that had to be invented. I guess I just figured somebody popped some real orange juice or regular orange juice into the freezer and then when you needed it, you thawed it out.”
2. Air conditioning
“You can’t live without this in the state of Florida,” Austin said. “I’m talking about air conditioning. You can thank Dr. John Gorrie for developing artificially cooled air. This precursor to modern AC was brought into existence in 1851 to relieve some patients suffering from yellow fever and malaria,” Austin said.
1. Sunscreen
“It originated in 1944, a pharmacist named Benjamin Green used some sort of red veterinary petroleum, mixed it with cocoa butter and coconut oil,” Gadsden said “That’s how Coppertone suntan cream was born. But the iconic little girl with the dog pulling on her little bathing suit. That didn’t happen until 1956.”
To hear the bonus item Austin and Gadsden included on their Made in Florida list listen to the full episode.
You can watch Florida’s Fourth Estate Mondays and Fridays on the News 6+ Takeover at 5:30 p.m. or anytime on News 6+.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below: