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Apricot Floss Syrup
American Apricot Floss, 1 quart; Plain Syrup, 3 quarts; Fruit Acid, 1 ounce.
A fountain formula rather than a domestic recipe: four parts liquid stirred cold into a gallon of finished syrup, to be drawn an ounce at a time under carbonated water. The proportions only make sense once you know what the two trade ingredients were.
- What "Apricot Floss" wasAlmost certainly a trade flavoring base bought in by the fountain rather than made behind the counter; the name suggests a sweetened crushed-fruit or fruit-paste preparation, though the exact composition is not recorded here. Nothing is sold under that name now; the nearest working substitute is a thick apricot puree or a strong apricot fruit base, and the result will likely be less intensely flavored than the original intended.
- "Plain Syrup" is fountain strength, not table strengthIn American fountain practice plain syrup meant a heavy simple syrup, roughly 12 to 13 pounds of sugar to the gallon of water — a good deal denser than the 1:1 syrup most kitchens make. At that density the syrup resists fermentation and stands up to dilution by soda water.
- "Fruit Acid" means a solution, not crystalsFountain fruit acid was a prepared water solution of citric or tartaric acid, commonly around one part acid to four to eight parts water. An ounce of dry citric acid crystals in place of an ounce of the solution would make the syrup harshly sour.
- Volume measure throughoutThe ounce of fruit acid is most likely fluid ounces, consistent with the quarts alongside it, though the text does not say so. Four quarts of finished mixture take that single ounce, so the acid reads as a corrective for flatness rather than a dominant note.
- Yield and dilutionThis makes one gallon of finished syrup, which at a fountain pour of about 1 to 1.25 fluid ounces per glass gives something over 100 drinks. To scale to a single bottle, use 1 cup fruit base, 3 cups heavy simple syrup and about 1 1/2 teaspoons of acid solution.
- Mixing and keepingThe book gives no method; on the evidence of comparable fountain formulas the ingredients would simply have been combined cold and stirred until uniform, heating being avoided so as not to drive off the apricot aroma. A modern fruit puree carries more pulp than a commercial base would have, so expect it to separate and to keep less well.
Soda books like this one were written for the man behind the counter, not the cook, which is why the entry is a bare set of proportions: the flavor itself arrived from a supply house, and the fountain's job was to dilute, sweeten and acidulate it correctly. "Floss" appears here as a trade term for a bought-in fruit preparation, sold alongside "true fruit" extracts, crushed fruits and fountain pastes, though its precise trade definition is not recorded; manufacturers' formulas were closely held, and each house's version differed. The ounce of fruit acid marks this as a professional formula -- apricot is a low-acid fruit, and without added citric or tartaric the syrup tastes cloying once it hits carbonated water. Apricots became widely available through the growth of the American canning and drying industry, centered heavily on California.