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Ginger Syrup (American Extract of Jamaica)
American Extract of Jamaica Ginger, 3 ounces; American Soda Foam, ½ ounce; Simple Syrup, 1 gallon.
A soda fountain formula rather than a kitchen one: three concentrated ingredients stirred into a gallon of syrup and drawn by the ounce. The proportions are what matter, and they scale down cleanly.
- Scale it downA gallon of syrup is 128 fl oz, far more than a home cook needs. The ratio is 3 oz extract and 0.5 oz foam per gallon, or roughly 1 teaspoon of extract per cup of syrup. Mix a pint and keep it refrigerated.
- Simple syrup at fountain strengthSoda fountains worked with a heavy syrup, generally around two parts sugar to one part water by weight, not the equal-parts syrup used in bars today. A thinner syrup will taste weak once it hits carbonated water.
- Extract of Jamaica gingerThis was a strong alcoholic tincture of ginger root, far more concentrated than a modern baking extract. Commercial ginger extracts vary widely in strength, so start at half the stated quantity and taste before adding more.
- Soda foam"Foam" preparations were saponin solutions, usually made from quillaia (soapbark) or yucca, added so the drink would hold a head when charged water was drawn into it. Quillaia extract is still permitted in beverages in small amounts but is not a grocery item; omitting it costs you nothing but appearance.
- Ounces here are fluid ouncesOunces here are most likely fluid ounces -- formulas of this kind were generally compounded by volume. Read the 3 ounces and the half ounce as fluid measure rather than weight.
- How it was servedAbout 1 to 1.5 fl oz of syrup in a glass, filled with carbonated water and stirred. A gallon of finished syrup yields roughly 100 drinks.
Soda fountain manuals like this one were trade books, written for the dispenser behind the marble counter rather than the housewife, and their entries read like formulas because that is what they were. Ginger was one of the standard fountain flavours alongside vanilla, lemon and sarsaparilla, and it leaned on the fluid extract of Jamaica ginger already stocked by druggists as a carminative; early fountains were commonly found inside pharmacies. "American Extract of Jamaica Ginger" and "American Soda Foam" read as proprietary product names of the sort these books routinely specified. The foam ingredient reflects a fountain preoccupation with the look of a drink: saponin extracts gave a lasting head, and the same class of preparation later turned up in commercial cream sodas and root beers.