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Orange Phosphate (Syrup ounce Acid Phosphate)
Orange Syrup, 1 ounce; Acid Phosphate, from squirter, 1 dash. Solid soda to fill a mineral glass.
A fountain formula rather than a kitchen one: three components, no method, and the assumption that you are standing in front of a soda draft arm. Everything hinges on the acid phosphate, which is what separates a phosphate from a plain orange soda.
- Acid phosphateA dilute solution of phosphoric acid with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, sold to fountains as a souring agent. It gives a dry, mineral tartness with none of the fruitiness of citrus, and it is still made for the cocktail and soda trade. Lemon juice is not a substitute; it changes the drink entirely.
- "From squirter, 1 dash"The squirter was the small pump- or valve-top bottle on the fountain counter, used to deliver acid phosphate in small measured shots. A dash is a modest quantity, on the order of a fraction of a teaspoon; the exact amount depended on the bottle.
- Mineral glassA straight-sided fountain tumbler, commonly around 8 ounces. With an ounce of syrup and a dash of phosphate, the soda makes up the remaining 6 to 7 ounces, depending on the glass and how full it is drawn.
- "Solid soda"Fountains had two streams: a coarse or "solid" stream for volume and a fine spray for foaming. Solid soda means fill with plain carbonated water without whipping air into it, so the drink stays clear and sharp rather than frothy.
- Orange syrupPeriod fountain orange syrups were heavy sugar syrups flavoured with orange juice and oil or tincture of peel; proportions varied from book to book. Modern bottled syrups may be thinner or sweeter, so taste and adjust.
- Mixing orderThe formula lists syrup first, then the dash of phosphate, then the soda drawn in to fill, and there is no reason to depart from that order.
- YieldOne glass. Ice was not standard at the fountain, where the soda water itself came out chilled; if you use ice, cut the soda slightly so the drink is not watered down.
The phosphate was one of the two great souring agents of the American soda fountain, alongside citric acid, and its rise is generally traced to Horsford's Acid Phosphate, produced by the Rumford Chemical Works from the 1870s and marketed first as a nerve and digestive tonic before dispensers discovered it made a better-tasting soda. That double life explains why phosphates turn up in books like this one at all: the fountain grew out of the drugstore, and the man mixing an orange phosphate was often the same man filling prescriptions behind the same counter. Formulas of this kind were written as shorthand for a working dispenser who knew his own equipment, which is why the instructions name a squirter and a mineral glass but never a quantity of water.