How to Make New York City Soda Fountain Treats

It's the end of civilization as we know it. I recently asked for an ice cream soda in a New York City diner and the young lass at the counter did not even know what it was. "Is that ice cream mixed with a coke?" she asked. No, definitely not. Ice cream mixed with coke, root beer or seven-up is a float.

Growing up, soda fountains were part of every mom and pop store in New York. Balky and expensive to maintain, the soda fountain has passed into history along with Coca Cola spiked with real cocaine and lithium-laced Seven-up. But it is still possible to enjoy an ice cream soda, if you make it yourself.

You will need a carton of ice cream, seltzer water, milk, canned whip cream, Maraschino cherries and flavored syrup. For chocolate sodas the traditional syrup is Fox's U-Bet: www.foxs-syrups.com/egg_cream.html for vanilla sodas use real vanilla extract to taste, while the strawberry syrup made by Stonewall Kitchen www.stonewallkitchen.com/default.aspx and usually poured on pancakes is best.

Take an ice-cream scooper and add two scoops of ice-cream to a soda fountain glass or large tumbler.
Add two or three tablespoons of syrup or vanilla extract. Slowly start pouring in the seltzer. When the glass is ¾ full of soda, syrup and ice-cream, top it off with a little milk. Stir. Taste, add a little milk, seltzer or syrup to taste. Spray whip cream on top and add a cherry. If you use chocolate syrup with vanilla ice cream, the concoction is called a black and white.

How about a New York egg cream? For traditionalists, all egg creams are chocolate egg creams, but Fox's U-Bet now offers vanilla syrup for those who wish to walk on the wild side. A New York City egg cream is unique in that it contains neither egg, nor cream. Instead, it consists of seltzer, syrup (Fox's U-Bet is traditional) and just a hint of milk.

Add a couple of tablespoons of syrup to the bottom of a large glass, mix seltzer in until the glass is full to within an two inches or so of the top. Add milk to fill in. A traditional egg cream should have a biting seltzer taste. Too much milk flattens it, so don't be generous. In this case, less really is more. For the best experience, use seltzer dispensed from a seltzer maker so that the resultant drink develops a creamy head. Otherwise, you will have to settle for seltzer from a bottle-serviceable, but not quite as good.

So now you know how to make a real New York City ice cream soda or egg cream. Coming soon, just what is a kosher dill pickle anyway?

If you've enjoyed this story, you may also want to explore some of my other food-related articles such as:

This discussion of vineyards located near New York City:
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2029074/refreshing_summer_wines_and_the_vineyards.html

or a discussion about fine coffees:
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2006378/travels_in_the_world_of_coffee.html

The link below takes you to additional information about New York City history and nearby places to see:
www.associatedcontent.com/user/583548/mary_finn.html