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Lemon and Lime
Lime Syrup (8 ounces American Lime Juice to 1 quart plain syrup) . . . . . . . 1/2 ounce Lime Syrup (8 ounces American Lime Juice to I quart plain syrup), ½ ounce; Lemon Syrup, ½ ounce.
Few dashes acid phosphate, ¼ glass shaved ice. Draw soda water large stream, in mineral tumbler, and serve. This makes a fine morning drink.
A two-syrup phosphate, built in the glass and finished with a hard stream of soda. The whole thing takes under a minute once the syrups are made.
- The syrup ratio"8 ounces American Lime Juice to 1 quart plain syrup" is the recipe for the lime syrup itself, not for the drink. Plain syrup at the fountain was a heavy simple syrup -- formulas varied, but often somewhere near two parts sugar to one part water by weight -- thick enough to hold flavour against a large volume of soda.
- Fluid ounces, not weightThe ½ ounce measures are liquid: one tablespoon each of lime and lemon syrup. Total sweetening is about an ounce, which is modest for a tumbler of this size.
- Acid phosphateA dilute solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, sold specifically for fountain use. It is sour without being fruity and gives the drink a dry, mineral bite that citrus juice alone will not. It is still made for bartenders; a few dashes means three or four, not a splash.
- Mineral tumblerA straight-sided fountain glass, generally in the range of 8 to 12 ounces, taller and narrower than a modern rocks glass. Anything of that capacity works.
- Shaved iceQuarter of a glass of shaved, not cubed. Fine ice chills instantly and dilutes as it goes, which is part of the intended texture. Crushed ice from a bag is the closest ordinary substitute.
- Draw soda water large streamFountain apparatus offered a fine stream and a coarse one. The coarse stream was used to mix the drink by force rather than with a spoon. Pour cold seltzer hard down the centre of the glass and do not stir afterwards.
- YieldOne glass. Both syrups keep several weeks refrigerated, so the practical move is to make a batch of each and assemble to order.
Phosphates were the workhorse of the American soda fountain from the 1870s through Prohibition, and acid phosphate was stocked beside the syrups as a matter of course. Its appeal was partly flavour and partly the era's faith in phosphates as a tonic for nervous exhaustion. Lime syrup made from bottled juice was a fountain staple because fresh limes were seasonal and expensive inland, while preserved lime juice shipped and kept well. The pairing of lime with lemon, rather than either alone, gives a drink that reads as more complex than the sum of half an ounce each.