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Syrup-Hot Process
Twelve pounds sugar, 1 gallon water. Put water and sugar in kettle, stir constantly as it warms, and take off the fire just as soon as it begins to boil, and strain while hot.
This is the plain stock syrup that every fountain drink was built on — sugar and water in a ratio far heavier than the 1:1 simple syrup most cooks know. The whole point of the hot process is speed of dissolving, not cooking, so the moment of boiling is the moment to stop.
- The ratio in modern termsTwelve pounds of sugar to one gallon of water is roughly 1.4 parts sugar to 1 part water by weight (a US gallon of water weighs about 8 1/3 lb) — a heavy syrup in the region of 32 degrees Baume, close to the densities fountain work called for. Scaled to a home batch: 1 lb 8 oz sugar (about 3 1/3 cups) to 2 cups water.
- YieldThe full recipe gives something closer to 1 3/4 to 2 gallons of finished syrup, since the dissolved sugar adds considerably to the volume. Expect a little less if any water flashes off as it comes to the boil.
- Do not let it boil onThis is the hinge. Held at a boil, water evaporates and the syrup climbs past the intended density, and prolonged heat with any trace of acid inverts sucrose into glucose and fructose, changing sweetness and mouthfeel. Off the heat the instant bubbles break the surface.
- Stir until dissolved, then watchConstant stirring while it warms keeps undissolved sugar off the bottom of the pan, where it scorches and throws a caramel note into what should be a neutral syrup. Once the liquid is clear, stirring matters less than temperature does.
- Use a heavy stainless or enamelled pan if you have one; aluminium in particular can discolour a syrup this concentrated held hot.
- StrainingSugar of this period could carry more sediment and stray matter than modern refined sugar, which is a likely reason for the instruction to strain hot. Still worth doing through a fine sieve or a scalded cloth; hot syrup passes easily, cold syrup barely moves.
- Keeping itAt this density the syrup resists spoilage but is not sterile. Pour hot into clean bottles, cap when cool, and refrigerate; discard at the first sign of surface mould or a fermented smell. A cold-process syrup made without heat spoils sooner still.
- How it was usedFountain practice generally ran to something in the region of an ounce to an ounce and a half of syrup per glass, then flavouring extract, then charged water. The recipe itself gives no proportions; this is the base, not a finished drink.
Fountain manuals of this period nearly always give two ways to make stock syrup: the cold process, in which sugar is dissolved by percolation or agitation, and the hot process here, which was faster at the cost of some risk of scorching or inversion. Druggists cared about the distinction because syrup density was a dispensing standard — it was checked with a Baumé hydrometer, and a syrup off its mark threw off every drink drawn from it and every flavour extract measured against it. The soda fountain of this era is generally understood to have sat in a pharmacy, staffed by someone trained in weights, measures and the behaviour of solutions, which is why a recipe as simple as sugar and water is written with an exact ratio and an exact stopping point.