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Ginger Cordial Syrup
American Ginger Cordial Syrup, 1½ ounces; Soda Water, 6 ounces. Shake with cracked ice, in vented shaker, -American Egg Phosphate
A fountain formula rather than a kitchen one: two liquids, ice, and a shaker. The proportions and the equipment are what need translating.
- The measures are fluid ouncesHalf an ounce is a tablespoon; six ounces of soda water is three-quarters of a cup. Fountain syrup was commonly dispensed in ounce measures at the counter.
- That syrup quantity is unusually lowThat syrup quantity is on the low side -- fountain formulas of this type commonly called for around 1 to 1½ ounces of syrup to 6 to 8 ounces of soda. Half an ounce may read as faintly gingered water; taste and add more syrup if you want it stronger.
- Ginger cordial syrupA sweetened ginger flavouring syrup, in some period formulas made with tincture of ginger and sometimes a trace of capsicum for heat, not the ginger ale syrup sold today. A strong homemade ginger syrup, or a bottled ginger cordial, stands in; expect to adjust quantity since commercial strengths vary widely.
- Soda water means carbonated waterPlain charged water from the fountain, unsweetened and unflavoured. Seltzer or club soda; keep it cold, since warm water holds less gas and the drink falls flat in the shaker.
- The vented shaker mattersShaking carbonated liquid in a sealed tin builds pressure and will blow the cap. A vented fountain shaker let gas escape. Without one, stir the soda in over the ice instead of shaking, or shake only the syrup and ice and top with soda in the glass.
- Cracked, not cubedFountain ice was chipped small so it chilled fast in a few seconds of shaking. Large cubes will not do the same work in the same time.
- The stray line at the end"American Egg Phosphate" appears to be a heading run on from the following formula rather than an ingredient in this one.
- YieldOne drink, about 6½ ounces of liquid plus ice, served at once while the carbonation is still lively.
Soda fountain manuals like this one were trade literature: pocket lists of proportions for a dispenser working a marble counter, where the syrups came from a supply house and the drink was assembled in seconds. Ginger had a long medicinal reputation as a stomachic and carminative, so a ginger cordial soda sat comfortably in the space between a refreshment and a settling dose; in fountain usage a "cordial" syrup was non-alcoholic. The American fountain grew out of that druggist's context, and by the time books like this were printed the pharmacy and the drinks counter were often the same room. The neighbouring formula in the original, an egg phosphate, points to the same lineage: acid phosphate was a druggist's preparation before it was a flavour.