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Orangeade, Florida
The attraction of trade affected by this beverage is not only or principally in its palatable qualities, but in the manipulation in preparing the drink in the presence of the customers. The oranges generally used in the South are the Florida bitter-sweet, -a natural fruit not found in the Northern markets; but the common orange makes an equally good drink in every way. Cut an orange in halves, and express juice of one or both halves into the tumbler; then shake from an essence bottle a few drops of dilute extract of orange, and from a similar bottle a few drops of dilute solution citric acid; then draw in the usual quantity of plain syrup as used for soda water, and fill the glass from the soda water draft tube. We advise the use of the American Simplex Lemon Squeezer. (See Sundries Catalog.) AMERICAN AMERICAN ORANGEADE ORANGEADE ORAN EADE AMERICAN AMERICAN AMERICAN ORANGEADE ORANCEADE DRANGEADE AMERICAN ORANGEADE.
With each first order for one case 4 gallon jugs of American Orangeade, we will send the handsome dispensing bottle shown above, and a set of handsome showcards, free. The sound of a fiddle makes a man want to dance; the odor of beefsteak makes him hungry; the sight of a tempting fountain awakens his thirst.
A fountain drink built in the glass in front of the customer, which is the whole point of it. Everything here scales to a single tall tumbler.
- The hinge is the acidOrange juice alone tastes flat once it is diluted with sweet syrup and carbonated water. The few drops of citric acid solution are what make it read as fruit rather than as sugar water; a squeeze of lemon juice does the same job if you have no acid solution.
- Dilute extract of orangeFountain "dilute extract" was generally an oil-of-orange essence cut with alcohol, dispensed by drops from a stoppered essence bottle. Modern orange extract is a far stronger thing than orange flower water or juice; a few drops, as the recipe says, is the whole dose.
- Dilute solution of citric acidFountain solutions were commonly in the region of one part citric acid crystals to four parts water by weight, though the strength varied. Bought lemon or lime juice is a reasonable substitute at about half a teaspoon.
- Plain syrup"Plain syrup as used for soda water" is simple syrup at the fountain's usual strength, which ran heavy, in the region of two parts sugar to one of water; the "usual quantity" was commonly reckoned at an ounce to an ounce and a half per glass. Modern 1:1 simple syrup will need more.
- Florida bitter-sweet orangesA sour-sweet Florida type, sharper and more resinous than a dessert orange, and as the recipe says not sold in Northern markets. A Seville or a blood orange comes nearest; an ordinary navel, which the text expressly allows, works if the acid is not skimped.
- The soda waterDraft tube soda was drawn cold and hard-carbonated. Chill the glass and the syrup first and add the water last, poured down the side, or you lose most of the gas in the pour.
- YieldOne glass; fountain tumblers of the period generally ran somewhere between 8 and 12 ounces. A half-orange gives roughly an ounce to an ounce and a half of juice, and the recipe leaves it to you whether to use one half or both.
- The squeezerThe recommended American Simplex is a catalog item long out of production. Any hinged hand press that fits half a citrus fruit does the same work, and doing it over the tumbler is what the recipe is really selling.
Soda fountain manuals of the period sold theatre as much as flavour, and this entry says so outright: the value of the drink is in squeezing the fruit where the customer can watch. Prepared syrups and bottled extracts were part of the trade too — this page itself advertises bottled American Orangeade in gallon jugs — so visible fresh fruit reads as a point of difference worth the extra labour. The "bitter-sweet" oranges mentioned were seedling trees widely grown in Florida before the citrus industry standardised on grafted sweet varieties. Citric acid, cheap and shelf-stable, was a fountain staple used across the whole line of ades to restore the sharpness lost to syrup and carbonated water.