Long before refrigerators overflowed with bottled sodas, flavored waters, and ready-made iced drinks, summer refreshment often began in the kitchen.
In 1923, readers were offered an entire collection of cooling beverages for hot afternoons and porch-side evenings. The recipes ranged from familiar favorites such as iced tea, iced coffee, lemonade, and milkshakes to more unusual concoctions made with cider vinegar, molasses, ginger root, sassafras bark, and yeast.
Some could be mixed in minutes, while others required boiling, fermenting, bottling, or a full day of patience.
Have a Drink With Us!
Nothing finer for these summer afternoons and evenings than a refreshing drink. We’ve asked our Information Bureau for the best recipes, and here they are:
Sugar Syrup
Most fruit punches and other cooling drinks have one base — a syrup made of equal quantities of water and sugar. This is much better than sweetening with granulated sugar, which does not dissolve well or quickly in cold water. Put equal proportions of sugar and water in a saucepan, stir until sugar is dissolved, and boil gently eight minutes. Pour into a glass jar, set aside and use when wanted.
Iced Tea
This is the basis for innumerable beverages. Properly made — fresh water is barely allowed to reach the boiling point. A safe rule is one teaspoonful of tea to one cupful of boiling water. Scald the pot, put in dry tea and cover one minute. Add boiling water and cover closely, draw the tea off the leaves three minutes after the water has been added, strain and set aside to cool. Lemon juice added to iced tea is always popular and delightful. Pleasant variations are one tablespoon of pineapple juice, orange juice, or Maraschino cherry juice to each glass of tea.
Iced Coffee
Make strong black coffee and, while hot, add to it one-third as much scalding milk. Set aside until cold, fill tumblers half full of cracked ice; sugar to taste and pour in coffee.
Iced Cocoa
Make cocoa in the usual way, allow to cool, add crushed ice. The cocoa is improved by the addition of a little vanilla stirred in after it has been removed from the fire. A little powdered cinnamon is said to improve it. Whipped cream is a great addition.
Porch Punch
One and one-half cups of orange juice, 1 cup white grape juice, 1 pint of ginger ale. Mix ingredients, pour into large glass pitcher over pieces of ice and serve in glasses. This recipe makes 4-1/2 glasses or 12 punch glasses full.
Cherry Cocktail
Four tablespoonfuls orange juice, 3 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, 4 tablespoonfuls of ginger ale, 4 tablespoonfuls of cherry syrup, crushed ice. Take cherry syrup from a jar of canned cherries or use fresh cherry juice. Add remaining ingredients and mix well in a cocktail shaker. Put crushed ice in four cocktail glasses, pour in the mixture and serve at once.
Iced Orange Juice
Fresh mint leaves, orange juice, sugar. Arrange fresh mint leaves, lengthwise, at equal distances in frappe glasses, allowing four to each glass. Put in finely crushed ice to three-fourths depth of glass, and pour over to fill glass, orange juice sweetened to taste.
Lime Juice Cocktail
Two tablespoonfuls of lime juice, 2 tablespoonfuls orange juice, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar syrup, 2/3 cup ginger ale, crushed ice. Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker, pour over crushed ice in four cocktail glasses, and serve at once.
Raspberry Cocktail
Six tablespoonfuls raspberry juice, 6 tablespoonfuls sugar, 6 tablespoonfuls orange juice, 4 tablespoonfuls lemon juice, crushed ice. Put raspberry juice and sugar in saucepan. The juice may be squeezed from fresh berries or taken from a jar of canned raspberries. Cook juice and sugar together two or three minutes or until syrup measures one-third cup. Chill, add orange juice and lemon juice, mix thoroughly in a cocktail shaker.
Ginger Ale Lemonade
Four lemons, 1 pint ginger ale, 1-1/2 pints water, 1 cup sugar. Place a small block of ice in a pitcher. With the juice of four lemons mix one cup of sugar, one and one-half pints of water, and one pint of ginger ale. Pour into pitcher and stir thoroughly. Allow to stand a few minutes before serving.
Inexpensive Drink
One cupful of pure cider vinegar, half a cupful of good molasses, put in one quart of ice water. A tablespoonful of ground ginger improves the flavor.
Glaces
Glaces are made by adding sugar syrup and crushed fruit to finely shaved ice.
Ginger Pop
Two gallons lukewarm water, 2 pounds white sugar, 2 lemons, 1 tablespoonful cream of tartar, 1 cupful yeast, 2 ounces white ginger root, bruised and boiled. Pour this mixture into a stone jar and stand in a warm place for 24 hours; then bottle. The next day it will be ready to “pop.”
Mint Ale
Juice 5 lemons, 1-12 cupfuls sugar, 1/2 dozen stalks and leaves of bruised mint; 2 bottles ginger ale. Mix the lemons and sugar together; when melted place in a punch bowl with the bruised mint, and when the bowl has been half filled with cracked ice, add the ginger ale.
Milk Shake
Sweeten a half pint of unskimmed milk with sugar syrup made as per directions; flavor with half teaspoonful of vanilla; turn into glass or cocktail shaker, add enough crushed ice to fill to brim. Shake long and hard; pour into a chilled tumbler.
Raspberry and Currant Punch
One pint of raspberries, 1 quart of currents. Bruise fruit in a preserving kettle with a potato masher and pour over it 2 quarts of cold water. Put kettle over a moderate fire where it will heat gradually. After it begins to boil, remove the kettle from the fire; pour the contents into a jelly bag and let it drain through the bag into a large bowl. When it is clear and cool, ice and sweeten it and serve in little glasses.
Root Beer
Add to 5 gallons boiling water 1-1/2 gallons of molasses. Allow to stand for 3 hours, add bruised sassafras bark, wintergreen bark, sarsaparilla root, 1/4 pound of each; and 1/2 pint fresh yeast, water enough to make 15 to 17 gallons. After this has fermented for 12 hours it can be drawn off and bottled.
Source: The Washington Daily News. Washington, D.C. July 12, 1923.
