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Lime Freeze
Mint syrup, ½ ounce; lemon syrup, ½ ounce; pineapple syrup, ½ ounce. Fill tall 6-ounce stem glass ¼ with shaved ice, squeeze lime on this and stir. Use fine stream and serve with maraschino cherry placed on slice of lime.
A single-serving fountain drink built in the glass. The only equipment that no longer sits on most counters is the soda draft arm, and that is easily worked around.
- The measuresHalf an ounce is one tablespoon, so the three syrups come to 1½ ounces total. In a 6-ounce glass a quarter filled with ice, that leaves roughly 3 ounces of carbonated water — sweet and concentrated by modern soda standards.
- "Fine stream"Fountain draft arms offered more than one flow: a coarse stream that foamed the glass and a fine stream that delivered charged water gently without knocking the gas out. With a siphon or a bottle of seltzer, pour slowly down the inside of the tilted glass to keep the carbonation.
- Shaved ice, not cubesThe recipe specifies shaved ice: it chills instantly and thickens the drink slightly as it melts into the syrup. Cubes will leave the syrup sitting in a layer at the bottom.
- The limeThe recipe says only "squeeze lime on this," without a quantity. Squeeze it directly over the ice and stir before charging, as the recipe directs.
- Mint syrupFountain mint syrup was a plain sugar syrup flavored with oil of peppermint or an infusion of mint leaves, usually tinted green. Modern crème de menthe syrup is close; a mint simple syrup made by steeping fresh leaves in hot sugar syrup is closer to the leaf-infused version.
- Pineapple and lemon syrupThese could be house-made at the fountain — lemon syrup from juice, sugar and a little zest oil; pineapple from crushed fruit strained and sweetened — or bought ready-made. Bar-grade lemon and pineapple syrups substitute directly.
- YieldOne 6-ounce glass. Scaling up works, but build each glass separately so the ice stays shaved and the water stays charged.
Soda fountain drinks of this kind were assembled from a rack of syrups, and dispenser manuals like this one are essentially combination tables — the same dozen syrups recombined under different names. "Freeze" here does not mean frozen; the drink is built on a bed of shaved ice rather than served over cubes or made with cream. The finishing touch — a maraschino cherry set on a lime slice — is pure fountain showmanship.