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Orgeat Lemonade
Mix the juice of half a lemon, one tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and one half wineglass of orgeat syrup. Shake well, pour into glass one third full of cracked ice, and fill up with cold water.
Pineapple Lemonade No. 1 One large pineapple grated, and the juice of four lemons, sweetened with a syrup made by boiling two cups of sugar and two cups of water for five minutes. When cold, add one quart of water and serve with plenty of ice. Pineapple Lemonade No. 2 Mix one half cup of pineapple juice, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, juice of one lemon, and one half cup of boiling water. When cool, add one cup of ice water, strain and serve.
Lemonade for 20 People Mix the juice of one dozen lemons and one pound of sugar. Add one gallon of water, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Serve very cold.
Four lemonades run together on this page, all built on the same logic: a strong sweet-sour base thinned with cold water at the last moment. A few of the measures need translating.
- WineglassA wineglass in American recipe books of this period is generally reckoned at about 2 fluid ounces, so half a wineglass is about 1 ounce — roughly two tablespoons of orgeat. Do not read it as the capacity of a modern stemmed glass.
- Powdered sugarThis means finely ground granulated sugar, closer to today's superfine or caster sugar, not the cornstarch-cut confectioners' sugar sold now. Superfine dissolves in a shaken drink; modern powdered sugar will leave a faint starchy body.
- OrgeatA sweet almond syrup, usually carrying orange-flower water. Commercial bottles vary enormously in sweetness, so taste before adding the full tablespoon of sugar — with a heavily sweetened brand the drink needs none.
- Shake before the iceThe instruction is deliberate: shake the juice, sugar and syrup together first so the sugar dissolves, then pour over ice and top with water. Reversing the order leaves grit at the bottom of the glass.
- Cracked iceIce was chipped from a block, giving irregular shards that chill fast and dilute fast. Cracked cubes from a bag, or ice pounded in a towel, gives the same effect; solid cubes will leave the drink thin at the top and strong at the bottom.
- Pineapple No. 1"One large pineapple grated" means the flesh shredded on a box grater, juice and pulp together — about 3 to 4 cups from a large fruit. It is not strained, so the finished pitcher is cloudy and fibrous; strain it if you want something clear.
- YieldsThe orgeat lemonade and Pineapple No. 2 each make a single tall glass. Pineapple No. 1 makes something over two quarts once the syrup, fruit and water are combined. The last recipe gives roughly four and a half quarts, which is generous for twenty small glasses over ice.
- Syrup keepsThe boiled sugar syrup in No. 1 is a plain 1:1 syrup. Make it in quantity and keep it refrigerated; it saves the sugar-dissolving step in all four drinks.
Orgeat takes its name through French from the Latin hordeum, barley: the original medieval drink was a barley water, and almonds were added as an enrichment before displacing the grain entirely, leaving a syrup that is almond and sugar with a scent of orange flowers. By the nineteenth century it was a soda-fountain and confectioner's staple in America, sold by the bottle for exactly this purpose — a spoonful in a glass turned plain lemonade into something that read as luxurious. The four recipes here also show the era's pineapple enthusiasm, calling for the fresh fruit, grated.