Soda jerker flipping ice cream. Texas, 1939
Before we had ice cream sodas, we had iced cream sodas. The drinks were a mixture of soda water, flavored syrup, and cream. No ice cream.
They were also called frigid cream sodas, and even ice cream sodas, even though they weren’t made with ice cream.
The earliest soda fountain drinks were plain seltzers, and they were usually considered medicinal. In the 1830s, when flavorings began to be added, the drinks became refreshments rather than remedies.
The drinks were flavored with fruit syrups and/or juices, wine or cordials. Often served decorated with slices of fresh fruit, they were sometimes given whimsical names.
A “Wild Cherry Sangaree” was concocted from cherry juice, cherry syrup, Angostura bitters, ice, and soda water.
A “Granola” was made with orange syrup, grape juice, lemon juice, ice, and soda water.
A “Currant Shrub” contained red currant juice, lemon syrup, brandy, ice, and soda water.
Before long, fountain operators added cream to the drinks, and according to Harper’s Monthly Magazine for August 1872, “Soda-Water with cream syrups, when well iced has been fancifully named ‘ice-cream soda.’ “
A typical mixture, the “Alhambra Cream” soda, was made with peach, orange, and vanilla syrups, cream, and soda water.
The simply named “Frozen Cream” was a combination of banana syrup, cream, ice, and soda water.
The ice cream soda – actually containing ice cream – was introduced in the 1870s and was both popular and problematic. At the time, most soda fountains did not stock ice cream. Owners were reluctant to add it because that meant either making or buying the ice cream. It also required storage, so they’d have to buy more ice and salt and perhaps an ice cream cabinet. It all added up to more work and more expense.
Worst of all, it seemed customers lingered over ice cream sodas longer than they lingered over a glass of seltzer, even a flavored or creamy one.
Trade publications worked hard to convince the owners that ice cream sodas could be profitable. They ran cost estimates, calculated how many sales it would take to make a profit, and offered easy ice cream recipes for those who’d never made it before. But for several more years, many soda fountains operators continued to sell ice cream sodas made without ice cream.
Eventually of course, ice cream triumphed. In 1893, The Critic magazine called the ice cream soda “our national beverage.” Soon a soda fountain without ice cream was unimaginable, and the ice cream soda was an American classic.
This recipe bridged the gap between an iced cream soda and an ice cream soda.
Frosted Coffee
Coffee syrup…………………fl. oz. 2
Cream………………………..fl. oz. 2
Shaved or cracked ice…….soda glassful 1/2
Shake thoroughly in a combination shaker or in a glass and shaker, strain into a 12-ounce glass, fill the glass with the coarse stream of carbonated water, stir thoroughly, add a spoonful of whipped cream, and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Ice cream may be used instead of whipped cream. – The New Standard Formulary, Emil A. Hiss, 1910.