Love may fire the soul, but an ice cream soda soothes it. That is what I found out recently when I opened the mail.
Old soda makers wrote in, sharing some of their techniques and reveling in the days when cream was cream and seltzer had squirt.
Since the experts tell us we are supposed to have balance in our diets, I did not confine this column solely to sodas.
I threw in a letter on homemade ice cream as well.
If that is not enough balance for you, chew a carrot as your read this column.
TC 6& Sweet memories of a skilled 'jerk' From: Jerry Rosenthal, Pikesville
Column on ice cream sodas with recipe for coffee soda.
Dear Happy Eater,
If steamed crabs are ambrosia, a well-made chocolate ice cream soda is the nectar of the gods. As for coffee ice cream soda -- BLAAGH!
I was a drugstore "soda jerk" some 50 years ago. In those days most corner drugstores had two fountain taps. One was for plain cold water, the other for carbonated water.
The carbonated tap had two settings. Pushed back, the "seltzer" poured just like plain water; pulled forward, the high intensity jet spurted. It was the judicious use of that tap that differentiated between presentations made for most customers and that made for my friends, relatives, and (of course) myself.
The muddling of the chocolate syrup and -- of milk could be handled in either of two methods. One could use the long spoon to carefully blend the ingredients . . . or several short tugs on the jet of carbonated tap would do the job for you. The latter was when business was brisk.
For most customers the glass was then filled about 1/3 full with the normal flow of seltzer. Vanilla ice cream (2 small scoops) was scooped in and the jet tap would direct a stream at the ice cream.
The result was a white froth, or head, which rose above the top of the glass. I would leave the spoon in the glass, puncture a cherry with a straw and place it, too, in the glass and quickly serve the soda before the head disappeared. This method saved carbonated water and whipped cream (in the 1940s a penny saved was a penny earned).
The second method picked up after the syrup and milk are muddled, and used a little more of each ingredient. The glass was then filled about 2/3 full with a normal flow of seltzer. Ice cream (3 small scoops) is scooped in, virtually filling the glass. It was then topped with whipped cream and a cherry. This method gave more ice cream to eat and more soda to drink.
