Soda Fountain of Youth

Week 27: #52 Ancestors – Free

By Eilene Lyon

It’s been a while since we heard from my Grandpa Smitty. The childhood treats he recalls weren’t exactly “free,” but they brought to mind some of his carefree younger days when the taste of a soda pop took you to another realm.

Excerpt from “The Changing Times”

by Laurence M. Smith

I tell you now about some things we had when I was growing up that you could not buy now for any price. We had “Strawberry Soda Pop.”

When you took the cap off a bottle of strawberry pop it fizzed like a crackling fire. You take a swig of this “pop” and you knew you had just reached paradise. Part of the carbonation would back-fire and tickle your nose.

My life ambition was to make enough money so that I could have strawberry pop anytime I wanted it. The trouble with that idea was that when I could afford it, somebody discovered that the way they made strawberry pop was not healthy and they quit making it that way.

Another thing we had was a strawberry ice cream soda. Behind the counter of the ice cream parlor was two spigots with a six-inch wooden handle sticking up. One spigot ran out ice water and the other spigot squirted out carbonation.

To make a heavenly ice cream soda you first put in a scoop of rich creamy ice cream. Now a squirt or two of strawberry syrup. Now, from one spigot run ice water, and from the other, the high pressure carbonation mixes the syrup and the ice cream into a frothy fluid mixture that is delicious beyond description. The present day kids have never tasted anything like it.

We also had such delectably sinful drinks as “Green River” and “Cherry Coke.” When you drank these your stomach said Oh, Wow! The cokes were 5¢ the ice cream sodas were 10¢.

Feature image: Soda jerk with ice cream soda (Wikimedia Commons)