The History of Lemonade
Spring has sprung and warmer weather is now upon us. To celebrate the sunshine, blooming flowers, and occasional rain showers here is a short article on one of the most ubiquitous drinks consumed during this time of year.
Origins of Lemonade
The most basic recipe for lemonade consists of lemon juice and sugar, though water is usually added to dilute the sourness. The lemon itself has no known origin but it’s earliest roots can be traced back to Northwestern India, the citron then spreading West to the Mediterranean and East to many countries throughout Asia. The people of the Mediterranean used it as an ornamental plant while those in Asia used it in flavorings and medicines. As it spread it went through many mutations and hybridizations that created different citrus fruits such as oranges, limes, and various lemon varieties. The sour fruit was known to the Romans and there are depictions of lemons being used in their drinks, but there is no literary evidence to back this up. Historians theorize that these artists had seen lemons in their travels and took some artistic liberty by adding them to such depictions.
A citron, the precursor to the modern lemon. Courtesy of Shutterstock.
The earliest known evidence of lemonade comes from Medieval Egypt. A Persian poet named Nasir-I-Khusraw wrote about daily life in Egypt and made reference to a drink called “qatarmizat,” a drink consisting of juice from a freshly squeezed lemon and sweetened with sugarcane. Preserved records from businesses at the time reveal that it was a quite popular drink as it was sold by many vendors in markets throughout the land. The first written recipe for this drink however did not appear until the 13th century in an Arabic cookbook. Hard lemonade, that which is spiked with alcohol, first appeared towards the end of the Medieval period in the Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia where records show that they mixed qatarmizat with different types of alcohol.
The inside of a citron. Notice how much rind and how little fruit there is, modern lemons were bred to maximize fruit and minimize rind. Courtesy of Sanppellegrino.
A Global Phenomenon
Around the mid-17th century the drink had arrived in Europe and became immensely popular. France in particular enjoyed it and street vendors in Paris and other large cities sold lemonade by the cup, perhaps the earliest form of the lemonade stand. The drink also spread to the New World through European voyages and expeditions, finding that the lemon grew well in the warm and humid climates of modern day Florida, California, and parts of the Caribbean. The popularity of lemonade in the Americas is also directly proportional to the growth of the sugar plantations, the abundance of sugar cane making it an incredibly inexpensive drink. The first recipe for lemonade found in North America was in Mary Randolph’s The Virginia Housewife cookbook published in 1824, however this was much more similar to a custard as it also contained eggs.
Mary Randolph’s recipe. With less sugar and more juice it is not hard to see how this could have been made into a drink. Courtesy of Wikisource.
In the 1870s lemonade took on a more important role in the United States as the temperance movement began to spread throughout the country. Those within the movement encouraged people to drink lemonade and use it as an alternative to “evil” alcoholic beverages. The First Lady of the time, Lucy Webb Hayes, was a vehement prohibitionist who tried to ban all booze in the White House and was mockingly given the nickname “Lemonade Lucy.” Even without the spurn of prohibitionists the drink was skyrocketing in popularity due to the growing ice trade. Ice was becoming cheaper and more easily accessible to the common man and people were now able to easily enjoy a cold drink on a hot day, lemonade by far being the most popular.
Temperance movement sign. Courtesy of Historian Daniel Ross.
Pink Lemonade
Lemonade of the pink variety has a history all its own that is connected to an unlikely source. Around the same time that lemonade was taking off in America, the circus was also starting to gain much popularity. The first mention of pink lemonade appears in 1879 in the West Virginia Wheeling Register linking the success between the two, but its origin goes a bit further back. It is not known exactly when, where, or who invented pink lemonade, but there are two prevailing stories.
Pink lemonade. Courtesy of The Cooking Bride.
The first story involves a famous circus promoter named Henry E. Allott who was widely known across the country, so popular in fact that when he died his obituary was printed in the New York Times and Washington Post. The story comes by way of a 1913 restaurant trade handbook and explains that in 1872, Allott, who was only 14 at the time, was in charge of a concession stand for a traveling circus. This stand sold both drinks and candy to circus goers and it was this combination of the two that led to Allotts happy accident. While carrying a bucket full of red cinnamon candies he accidentally dropped them into a container of fresh lemonade, it did not take long for the candy to begin dissolving and turning the drink a reddish-pink color. Sticking to the circus motto “the show must go on” Allott went ahead and sold the lemonade, and to his surprise the concoction did better than the original. From then on the drink became a staple of the circus and continued to be one of their best sellers.
Depiction of an early circus tent. Courtesy of No Depression.
The second possible origin comes from lion tamer George Conklin’s biography The Ways Of The Circus: Being The Memories And Adventures Of George Conklin, Tamer Of Lions written by Harvey W. Root. In this book it is claimed that Conklin’s brother Pete was the originator of the pink drink. Pete worked a concession stand and was a tumbler for the well known circus promoter Jerry Mabie. One day Pete was asked to perform as a clown and did quite well so he asked to be paid the same rate as the clowns were, but Mabie refused. This angered Pete and ultimately caused him to quit, taking his concession stand with him. He continued to follow the circus around and sell drinks and made a decent living by doing so. One hot day Pete ran out of water for his lemonade and still had a large line of people that was ever increasing. In a panic he ran into a nearby tent of one of his clown friends and saw him wringing out his red tights into a bucket of water, the cheap dye in the tights had turned the water a pinkish-red color. Perhaps adhering to the same adage Allott did, Pete snatched the bucket up and took it to the waiting crowd, advertising it as “strawberry lemonade.” Sales of the drink doubled and Root says in the biography that after this “no first class circus was without pink lemonade.”
George Conklin pictured with a baby elephant. Courtesy of Philly & Stuff.
While these stories are interesting and give a nice little explanation for the origin of the drink the truth is that lemonade mixed with strawberry, watermelon, and various other red and pink fruits had been around long before either of them. However credit can certainly be given to the circus for popularizing it. Today there are many different varieties of pink lemonade that are flavored with strawberry, watermelon, pomegranate, raspberry and various other fruits. Though oddly enough most pink lemonade commercially sold today is the exact same flavor as traditional lemonade, just colored with an extract from red grapes. Psychologists say this is because it is not so much the flavor that draws people in but the color. Pink is a relaxing color that calms people and that is exactly what people want to do on a hot summer day when lemonade is traditionally drunk.
Today
Starting in the 1950s frozen lemonade concentrate became popular and saw a rise in the demand for lemons as more and more people could easily make it at home. This trend has persisted in our modern day, albeit now with many different flavor options. Lemonade is commercially sold year round and does not entirely depend on the growing season. It is also common for people to buy it premixed and premade, being offered in a variety of colors and flavors, and even being mixed with many other drinks like tea. Anymore it is actually a little rare to find a place that still sells fresh hand squeezed lemonade, though many do still make it at home.
An example of frozen lemon concentrate. Courtesy of Ralphs.
Whether it is the lemonade stand being used as a symbol for entrepreneurship and the American Dream, the pink drink that brings a sense of calm, or the yellow liquid being almost synonymous with warm weather. Lemonade has certainly ingrained itself in modern culture and is unlikely to go anytime soon.
Children at a lemonade stand. Courtesy of viafilms.
Personal Thoughts
I was trying to think of a happier and less morbid article to write this week. Between the viral outbreak that has everyone on edge and my past few articles being much less than joyful affairs, I felt it was time for something nice. I tried looking for something spring related, especially spring festivals from different cultures but nothing really caught my eye. Then I saw someone share a post about how pink lemonade was made on my personal Facebook and I thought a history about lemonade could be a good one to do. Admittedly I love lemonade, I would drink it all day everyday if I could. Really I like anything lemon flavored so this was a pretty interesting topic for me to research and write.
Sources
Cover photo courtesy of Real Housemoms
https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/how-circus-clowns-invented-pink-lemonade
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unusual-origins-pink-lemonade-180960145/
http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/17/id/95/
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lemon.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42960445
http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/245
