Top secret recipes_ sodas, smoothies, sp - Todd Wilbur [3]
When the syrup’s done, the soda’s done. When you’ve cooled off your syrup and are ready to have a drink, simply add the proper amount of flavored syrup to cold soda water, just as the jerks did (c’mon, that’s what they were called) at the soda fountains of yesteryear. Give the drink a little stir, add some ice, and you’ve just used an old-fashioned technique to re-create one of today’s most popular beverages.
A&W CREAM SODA
Sure, Roy Allen and Frank Wright are better known for their exquisite root beer concoction sold first from California drive-up stands under the A&W brand name. But these days the company makes a darn good vanilla cream soda as well. And the formula is one that we can easily clone at home just by combining a few simple ingredients. Most of the flavor comes from vanilla, but you’ll also need a little lemonade flavor Kool-Aid unsweetened drink mix powder. This mix comes in .23-ounce packets and provides the essential citric acid that gives this soda clone the necessary tang of the real thing. Once you make the syrup, let it cool down in the fridge, then just combine the syrup with cold soda water in a 1 to 4 ratio, add a little ice, and get sipping.
1cups granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon Kool-Aid lemonade
unsweetened drink mix
1 cup very hot water
1 cup corn syrup
½ teaspoon plus ¼ teaspoon
vanilla extract
10 cups cold soda water
1. Dissolve the sugar and Kool-Aid drink mix in the hot water in a small pitcher.
2. Add the corn syrup and vanilla extract and stir well. Cover and chill syrup until cold.
3. When the syrup is cold, pour ¼ cup syrup into 1 cup cold soda water. Stir gently, add ice, and serve.
• MAKES 10 10-OUNCE SERVINGS.
A&W ROOT BEER
In 1919, when Roy Allen and Frank Wright started selling their new root beer beverage to a thirsty America, national Prohibition was taking its grip on the country.Their timing couldn’t have been better. No longer able to legally drink real beer, thirsty patriots had to settle for this sweet, foamy concoction derived from roots, herbs, and berries. Roy and Frank had thirteen years of Prohibition to make their mark and their fortune from this refreshing drink. By 1933, when Prohibition came to a screeching halt, Roy and Frank had 171 stands in various shapes and sizes, each with the familiar A&W logo on them, all across the country. These drive-up stands with their tray boys and tray girls bringing cold drinks out to the cars were an inspiration for many other roadside stands and diners, and the prelude to the popular fast food drive-thrus of today. You can still get a foamy mug of A&W root beer at outlets across the country, or just enjoy some from a 12-ounce can.
But if it’s some home cloning you’d like to get into, check out this improved version of A&W Root Beer that was first printed in More Top Secret Recipes. The beauty is you won’t have to worry about collecting roots, herbs, and berries like the pros do. Instead you just need to get some root beer extract, manufactured by McCormick, that you’ll find near the vanilla in your local supermarket. Make up some root beer syrup, let it cool off in the fridge, and you can whip up 10 servings by combining the syrup with cold soda water whenever you’re ready to drink. Cool, eh?
1cups granulated sugar
1 cup very hot water
1 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon McCormick root beer
concentrate
10 cups cold soda water
1. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water in a small pitcher.
2. Add the corn syrup and root beer concentrate and stir well. Cover and chill syrup until cold.
3. When the syrup is cold, pour ¼ cup syrup into 1 cup of cold soda water. Stir gently, add ice, and serve.
• MAKES 10 10-OUNCE SERVINGS.
COCA-COLA
When Atlanta pharmacist