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Cherry Phosphate (Put ounces cherry syrup a dash)
Put 1½ ounces cherry syrup, a dash of American Acid Phosphate in a mineral glass, fill with solid soda, stir and serve.
A two-ingredient fountain drink whose whole character comes from the acid phosphate — without it this is just cherry soda. A few of the terms need translating before it works at home.
- The measurement is garbledThe measurement looks garbled -- "½ ounces" may be a typesetting loss of 1½ ounces, since fountain pours for a fruit syrup generally ran about 1 to 1½ oz. If a half ounce reads as too faint, start at 1½ fl oz and adjust.
- Acid phosphateA solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts (formulas varied by maker, some also carrying iron), sold for fountain work. Acid phosphate is again made for the cocktail and soda trade. It gives a dry, mineral tartness with none of the fruitiness of lemon juice, and there is no close substitute; citric acid tastes quite different.
- A dashAt the fountain a dash came from a dasher-top bottle and ran about ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon. Phosphate is potent and sour, so err low and taste.
- Mineral glassA fountain glass of about 8 ounces. Any tall 8–10 oz tumbler does the job.
- Solid sodaFountain draft arms gave a coarse foamy stream and a fine "solid" stream. Solid soda means the fine stream, drawn to fill the glass with liquid rather than head. Pour chilled seltzer down the side of the glass to the same effect.
- Cherry syrupPeriod fountain syrup was heavy, considerably sweeter than a 1:1 simple syrup, and some cherry syrups carried a little bitter almond alongside the fruit. A modern thin cordial will read as weaker; use more, or reduce it.
- Order of workSyrup and phosphate go in first, soda last, and the stir should be brief. Long stirring drives off the carbonation the drink depends on.
- YieldOne glass of about 8 ounces. The recipe calls for no ice; fountain soda came out cold from the cooling coil, so chill the seltzer thoroughly.
Phosphates were the workhorse of the American soda fountain from the 1870s through Prohibition. Acid phosphate was promoted by druggists both as a flavouring that sharpened sweet syrups and as a mild tonic — the fountain grew out of the pharmacy counter, and the line between refreshment and medicine stayed blurred for decades. Trade manuals like this one were written for the dispenser behind the marble counter, which is why the instructions assume equipment no household had: a draft arm with two streams, dasher bottles of acid, and a rack of numbered syrups. The phosphate faded after the Second World War as bottled soft drinks took over and the fountain trade shrank, and acid phosphate went out of general production for years before craft bartenders revived it, with small-scale production resuming around 2010.