Sugar, jilted a quarter century ago by food companies charmed by less expensive high fructose corn syrup, is making a comeback as wholesome and more natural.

Products including soda pop and pancake syrup are again using sugar to attract consumers suspicious of high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.

The latest products to drop corn sweetener for granulated sugar are special editions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew that arrived on local grocery shelves in mid April. The beverage rollout marked the first time since 1984 that regionally-produced sugar has sweetened a major brand soft drink.

"I'm of the age that I remember when Pepsi used to taste that way," said Cal Jones, president of Wyoming Sugar in Worland. "It's got a distinct taste and to me it's good. It seems smoother and has a little more pizzazz. It just doesn't seem as heavy."

Pepsi tapped Wyoming Sugar as its regional sweetener provider for the special edition, sugar-only Pepsi Throwback, because the company's local bottling plant, Admiral Beverage, is in Worland. Jones said the sweetener made from sugar beets is delivered in crystal form to the Admiral plant, where it's liquefied by the bottler. The promotional product will be around for about six more weeks.

Sugar was the sweetener of choice for U.S. soft drinks and prepared foods until the 1980s when import prices were driven up by tariffs and sugar quotas. High fructose corn syrup, a cheaper homegrown alternative, quickly usurped the processed food market in United States, while outside the country where U.S. tariffs weren't a problem, sugar persisted.

But U.S. consumers have become increasingly suspicious of high fructose corn syrup, making sugar attractive once again.