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Honey Dew Frappe
Prepare a syrup of 16 ounces maple syrup, 4 ounces of strained honey and 4 ounces of vanilla syrup. Into a mineral glass (7-ounce is best size) put 4 or 5 ounces of vanilla ice cream, add 1 ounce of the above syrup; mix well with a spoon. Care should be used in mixing, as it must not be made "mushy." Then sprinkle over this a heaping spoon of ground English walnuts, add some whipped cream over the nuts, sprinkle a very little powdered sugar over that, dress with a slice of orange and a cherry, set the glass on a small plate and serve.
A fountain frappe of this period is a stiff, spoonable blend of ice cream and syrup, not a drink you pour. The whole difficulty lies in the mixing.
- The hinge: don't overwork itThe instruction against making it "mushy" is the recipe. Fold the syrup through with a few decisive turns of the spoon so the ice cream stays firm enough to hold the whipped cream and nuts on top. Beating it slack turns the whole thing into a puddle before it reaches the plate.
- Vanilla syrupA fountain staple, not the flavoured coffee syrup sold now. Simple syrup — equal weights sugar and water, boiled briefly and cooled — with vanilla extract stirred in off the heat. Bottled fountain-style vanilla syrup works if you have it.
- The ouncesFor the syrup, treat them as fluid ounces: 2 cups maple syrup, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup vanilla syrup, stirred cold until uniform. For the ice cream, 4 to 5 ounces is more likely a dipper measure than a weight — either way, roughly two generous scoops.
- Mineral glassA fountain glass of about 7 ounces, of the type used for mineral water. Any narrow 7- to 8-ounce glass or a small sundae coupe does the same job; the point is a tall, tight profile that keeps the garnish stacked.
- English walnutsThe common walnut, Juglans regia — what any supermarket sells as walnuts today. "Ground" here probably means put through a nut mill to a coarse meal, so chop fine rather than reducing to flour, which turns pasty against the cream.
- Strained honeyHoney filtered clear of wax and comb, i.e. ordinary liquid honey. Nothing to do with modern ultrafiltered product; a mild clover or orange-blossom honey suits the maple better than a dark buckwheat.
- YieldThe syrup makes about 24 fluid ounces, enough for two dozen servings at an ounce apiece. It keeps for weeks refrigerated in a covered jar and is worth making for pancakes if the frappes run out first.
Soda-fountain manuals like this one were trade books, written for the dispenser behind the marble counter rather than the home cook, which is why the measurements come in fountain ounces and the syrup is batched in quantity. "Honey Dew" here is a straight description of the ingredients — honey and maple. The frappe itself sat in a family of counter preparations distinguished by texture more than flavour: a sundae was ice cream with sauce poured over, a soda was carbonated, a frappe was stiff and spoonable. The elaborate finish — nuts, whipped cream, powdered sugar, an orange slice, a cherry, the glass set on its own plate — reflects an era when the fountain is often said to have competed with the saloon on presentation as much as taste, a rivalry conventionally linked to the growth of temperance sentiment through the early twentieth century.