Today I’m sharing two versions of one drink with you. The recipe is again from the 1942 edition of The New American Cook Book. If you’d like to start at the beginning of Drink Week, check out yesterday’s Presidential Punch.
Glorified Lemonade
- 2 c sugar
- 3 c water
- 3 lemons, juice
- 2 limes, juice
- 2 c orange or lemon carbonated beverage or ginger ale
Boil sugar and water 10 minutes. Cool. Add juice of lemons and limes, and the orange or lemon beverage or ginger ale. Serves 6.
Results: Ginger Ale Version
I added ginger ale to the first batch of glorified lemonade. It was incredibly sweet. I mainly drink unsweetened beverages so, thinking I might be overreacting to the sweetness, I gave some to the rest of my family. No one wanted to finish their drink because of the sweetness. We also all thought it wasn’t as lemony as we expected it would be. We decided to try a second version, but this time we would cut the sugar in half. Using that much sugar in a drink would definitely not be feasible after sugar rationing began in the spring of 1942. Since this recipe is from a 1942 cookbook, it isn’t a stretch to think this lemonade just wasn’t made or was adapted to fit new cooking needs.
Results: Carbonated Orange Beverage Version
One cup of sugar would still be a lot for a housewife to use for a drink recipe in 1942, but it is half of what the original recipe called for. The resulting drink was orange flavored, but still very, very sweet. That’s still so much sugar for a recipe that serves 6, especially combined with orange soda. To be able to drink this, we would have to cut even more sugar. I wonder if the recipe actually contains a misprint. Yesterday’s drink recipe served 20 and called for 2 tablespoons of sugar. I might test this theory again in the future, but right now I think I’m ready to move on to something else.
Also, I need to find a new place to take drink photos. Photographing beverages is a challenge! I’ll see what I can come up with so you don’t see the same background every day this week. Happy Tuesday!
Other drinks in the series:
History in the Kitchen 
4 thoughts