TMOliver wrote:
> "Jean B." > wrote in message
> ...
>> Just decided to post an interesting thing I have run into. I have an old
>> (undated <sniff>) Hires booklet, and it contains a recipe for Black Cows.
>> It is NOT what we think of when we hear that name. Rather it is 1 tsp of
>> Hires root beer extract and 2 Tbsps sugar, which are mixed and then added
>> to 1 quart of milk.
>>
>> I was going to say that I couldn't tell whether this was a powdered
>> extract or a liquid one, but one illustration, and the history I have
>> written, point to the latter.
>>
>> Now I am wondering whether one can even find this in local (in my case,
>> Boston-area) stores any more. There are some other interesting-sounding
>> recipes in this booklet.
>
> I recall the syrup/milk mixture as a "Brown Cow", with a "Black Cow" being a
> mug of "draught" root beer with a dip of vanilla ice cream.

Went back and checked, and the booklet says "Black Cow". I
wonder when this changed?
>
> Root beer syrup and the root beer extract you describe were once commonly
> available from dozens of small "flavor" makers which supplied small
> independent bottlers (and from the "names" in the root beer trade, Hires,
> Triple X, A&W and more.
>
> The extract, cheaper and more economical was mixed with simple syrup (made
> on site) to put in the root beer spot in the glistening row of syrup pumps
> lined up behind the counter in a good soda fountain. Some ice, a squirt and
> fill with carbonated water from the counter top pair (carb. and "flat"
> water) and there was a root beer. The fountain at which I started in the
> Summer of '52 (at 12) had two counter top special beverage servers, a big
> red one from which Coca Cola emerged and the 10, 2 and 4 labeled server for
> Dr. Pepper, invented locally here in Waco (and still the site of the Dr.
> pepper Museum in the original bottling plant.
>
> In Waco, the "flavor" company was Perfection, which made all sorts of
> flavorings including an artificial Grenadine for cheap saloons. It gave
> birth to a brand of soda pop still bottled and sold all over Texas and a
> couple of US markets, "Big Red".
>
>
It's great to have all of these first-hand memories from you.
I am 57, and all I can say that I personally remember is
root beer made from the syrup and soda water at the town drug
store, which was conveniently situated between school and
home. They had a much mellower flavor than what I find bottled.

Gee, after all this, I think I'll forget dinner and have a...
root beer float.... :-) I have the root beer but may need
to run out and get some ice cream....

--
Jean B.