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Lemon Syrup (II)
Mrs. Christopher Patterson.
Seven pounds of loaf sugar, three quarts of water, four ounces of citric acid, one drachm of oil of le mon.
Dissolve acid in warm water; mix; don't put the acid in a brass kettle; when quite cold put in the oil of lemon and bottle.
A soda-fountain style cordial base: sugar, water, citric acid and lemon oil, no juice and no cooking. It comes together in minutes, and the only real difficulties are the units and the vessel.
- The brass warning is the hingeCitric acid attacks copper alloys and pulls copper salts into the syrup, which is why the original says not to use a brass kettle. Mix in stainless steel, glass or food-grade plastic; avoid unlined copper, brass and bare aluminium.
- Loaf sugarLoaf sugar was refined cane sugar sold in a cone and broken up as needed. Ordinary granulated white sugar is the direct equivalent: 7 lb is about 15 3/4 cups.
- A drachm of oil of lemonA fluid drachm is 1/8 fluid ounce, roughly 3.5 ml or 3/4 teaspoon. If your source is by weight, an apothecaries' drachm is about 3.9 g, which is close enough for this purpose.
- Buy food-grade lemon oilCold-pressed lemon essential oil sold for food or beverage flavouring is what is meant. Bottles labelled for aromatherapy, cleaning or perfumery are not intended for ingestion and may be diluted in carrier oils that will not disperse.
- Citric acidFour ounces is about 1/2 cup of the fine granular form sold for canning and cheesemaking. Dissolve it in a cup or two of the warm water before combining with the rest, as the recipe directs.
- The oil goes in coldLemon oil is volatile; adding it to warm syrup drives off the top notes. It also will not truly dissolve, so it will float and separate. Shake the bottle before each use, or emulsify the oil in a teaspoon of neutral spirit or a little gum arabic solution first.
- Yield and dilutionRoughly 5 quarts of finished syrup: the dissolved sugar adds about 2 quarts of volume to the 3 quarts of water. Figure 2 to 3 tablespoons per tall glass of cold or soda water, adjusted to taste; it is more acidic than a modern lemonade concentrate.
- StorageNothing here is heated or sterilised, so use clean bottles and keep the syrup refrigerated. The sugar concentration and low pH discourage spoilage, but a surface mould can still form on a jug left in a warm pantry for weeks.
Bottled lemon syrup belongs to the nineteenth-century world of home-made "small drinks" -- shrubs, cordials, ginger beer and raspberry vinegar -- kept on hand for hot weather, for the sickroom, and for households that served no alcohol. What makes this version distinctly of its period is that it contains no lemons at all: cheap manufactured citric acid and oil of lemon, the latter generally expressed from the peel, let a cook build lemon flavour out of chemistry rather than fruit, and keep it through a Canadian winter when fresh lemons were costly and irregular. The Home Cook Book (Toronto, 1877) was compiled from contributions by named local women, which is why the recipe carries Mrs. Christopher Patterson's name and not much else.