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Nectar Syrup
American Concentrated Nectar Syrup, 1 quart; Plain Syrup, 3 quarts; American Fruit Acid, 1 ounce.
This is a soda-fountain working formula rather than a kitchen recipe: four parts liquid, mixed cold, to be drawn by the ounce under carbonated water. Nearly all of it hinges on knowing what the two proprietary items were.
- Yield and dispensingThe formula makes about one gallon of finished syrup. Fountain practice was generally to draw something like 1 to 1.5 fluid ounces per glass, topped with soda water, which would give on the order of 85 to 130 drinks from a gallon.
- "Plain Syrup"Fountain plain syrup was a heavy simple syrup, much denser than household 1:1; trade books commonly give proportions on the order of 2 pounds of sugar to a pint of water. A thin 1:1 syrup will make a watery, under-sweet drink at these proportions.
- "American Concentrated Nectar Syrup"A branded flavoring concentrate from a supply house, not a syrup you would buy now. Fountain "nectar" was a blend flavor rather than a single ingredient, commonly built on vanilla and almond and sometimes carrying a fruit note; a modern nectar or nectar-cream soda extract can stand in, used at the dilution its own label specifies rather than at one quart per gallon.
- "American Fruit Acid"Another trade product: "fruit acid" was generally a solution of citric or tartaric acid in water, sold ready-made so that fountain men did not have to weigh crystals. The single ounce is most likely a fluid ounce of that solution rather than an ounce of dry acid, though the entry does not specify.
- Why the acid is thereSugar syrup alone tastes flat and cloying against carbonated water. The acid supplies the tartness that reads as "fruit" and also lifts the almond-vanilla character of the nectar flavoring.
- MixingCombine cold and stir until uniform; no heating is called for and heat will drive off the volatile flavor oils in the concentrate. Bottle in glass, keep cool and dark.
- KeepingSyrup at full fountain density resists spoilage, but a thinner syrup at modern sweetness will mold or ferment within a week or two. Refrigerate and expect a shorter life than the original book assumed.
Soda-fountain formula books of this kind were published in the era when the drugstore fountain was the dominant American beverage counter, and they served two purposes at once: teaching the dispenser his proportions, and steering him toward the branded concentrates and "fruit acids" sold by the supply trade. That is why this entry names capitalized products rather than ingredients a druggist could compound himself. "Nectar" as a fountain flavor is often said to take its name from the drink of the Greek gods, and it was never a fixed formula; it seems generally to have been a house blend, and each supplier's version tasted somewhat different, which is precisely what made a proprietary concentrate worth selling. Recipes reduced to a ratio of quarts and ounces, with no method at all, reflect a working counter where speed mattered and the flavor had already been decided by someone else.