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Cherry Blossom
Prepare a syrup of ½ dram cherry essence, ½ dram strawberry essence, 2 drams vanilla extract, 1 dram solution citric acid, 32 ounces syrup, sufficient citric acid, 32 ounces syrup, sufficient cochineal color. Use 1½ ounces of the syrup to a 12-ounce glass, fill with finely shaved ice and then with carbonated water, stirring well and serving with straws.
A fountain syrup formula rather than a single drink: you mix a quart of flavored syrup, then draw off an ounce and a half per glass. The measurements are apothecary, which is what a soda dispenser of the period would have had on the counter.
- Drams and ouncesThese are fluid measures: one fluid dram is 1/8 fluid ounce, about 3.7 mL or roughly 3/4 teaspoon. So ½ dram is about 3/8 teaspoon, 1 dram about ¾ teaspoon, and 2 drams about 1½ teaspoons.
- A garbled lineThe phrase "sufficient citric acid, 32 ounces syrup, sufficient" is a printer's duplication. Read the formula as: the two essences, the vanilla, 1 dram citric acid solution, 32 fluid ounces (1 quart) simple syrup, and cochineal color to tint.
- "Syrup" means simple syrupAt the fountain this was plain sugar syrup, generally sugar dissolved in water at roughly 2 pounds to the pint of water — considerably heavier than a modern 1:1 syrup, and that density is what keeps the finished soda from tasting thin.
- Solution of citric acidFountain acid solutions were commonly in the region of 1 part citric acid to 4 or 5 parts water by weight. One dram of it in a quart of syrup is a small correction for tartness, not a flavor in its own right; without some acid the drink reads flat and cloyingly sweet.
- Cochineal colorCochineal, now usually sold as carmine, is a red colorant made from scale insects. It is still permitted as a food color, but it is a documented allergen and is not vegetarian; a beet or fruit-based red does the same job here since it contributes no flavor.
- EssencesCherry and strawberry "essence" were concentrated fountain flavorings, generally stronger than the supermarket extracts sold today. Start with half the stated amount, taste the finished soda rather than the syrup, and build up — the syrup always tastes harsher neat than it does at 1½ ounces in 12.
- Shaved ice, not cubesFinely shaved ice is doing real work: it chills the glass instantly and gives the carbonated water something to break against as it goes in. Cubes leave the syrup sitting at the bottom in a band.
- YieldA quart of syrup at 1½ ounces per glass makes about 21 twelve-ounce sodas. The syrup keeps for weeks refrigerated in a stoppered bottle.
Soda fountain manuals like this one were trade books, written for the dispenser behind the marble counter rather than for the home cook, which is why the quantities are in apothecary drams — the American fountain grew directly out of the drugstore. "Cherry Blossom" belongs to a whole family of fountain drinks named for flowers, colors and sentiments rather than for their contents; the flavor here is a blend of cherry, strawberry and vanilla, and the name is doing the advertising. The reliance on citric acid solution is characteristic of the period too: fountain formulas leaned on added acid, sometimes citric and sometimes phosphoric, to give bottled essences a bite that fresh fruit would have supplied on its own.