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Lemonade, as a soft drink, is mentioned in the annals of 600 BC. These were sherbets, non-carbonated fermented milk drinks. In 300 BC, ice was brought to the court of Alexander the Great from distant countries.
The lemon drink first appeared in France under King Louis I. One of the court cupbearers confused the barrels with wine and served juice in the glass instead of the noble aged drink. When he discovered a mistake, he added mineral water to the juice and was not afraid to serve it to the king. To the king’s question: “What is this?” the courtier replied: “Schorle, Your Majesty.” The ruler liked the drink, and since then Shorle (Shorley) began to be called “royal lemonade”.
The history of lemonade as we know it today begins in 7th century France. Then they began to prepare a soft drink from water and lemon juice with the addition of sugar. The basis for the lemonade was mineral waters that were brought from medicinal springs. Only aristocrats could afford such lemonade, since the ingredients of the lemonade cost a lot. At the same time, lemonade appears in Italy – the abundance of lemon trees allowed to reduce the cost of lemonade, and there it gained popularity faster. Italian lemonade was prepared with the addition of other fruits and herbal infusions.
In the 1670s, the French company Compagnie de Limonadiers was founded, which, with the help of lemonade peddlers, sold lemonade to passers-by directly from barrels worn on their backs.
In 1767, the English scientist Joseph Priestley first dissolved carbon dioxide in water. He designed a saturator – an apparatus that saturates water with bubbles of carbon dioxide. The advent of carbonated water made lemonade more unusual and more popular. The first carbonated lemonades appeared in the early 19th century, when they learned to extract citric acid from lemon.
In 1871, the trademark of the non-alcoholic beverage, High Quality Lemon Carbonated Ginger Ale, was registered in the United States. Following the world’s first ginger carbonated lemonade, soda was produced based on roots and various plants.
At the beginning of the 20th century, lemonade began to be produced on a large scale for the general public, as it became possible to close an effervescent aromatic drink in closed bottles.
During the Soviet era, lemonade became a national drink. It was produced from natural fruit bases, herbal extracts and sugar. Even then, lemonade became not just a soft drink, but also a tonic, invigorating and invigorating drink.
Lemonades were sold both in bottles and on tap – in Agroshkin’s devices, the water was saturated with carbon dioxide and turned into soda. Glass cones filled with multi-colored syrups were placed behind the counters. The syrups were poured into faceted glasses and diluted with carbonated water from a saturator.
Soda was also poured on the streets from carts. The equipment of such mobile mini-stations also contained syrups and a carbonator with soda, lined with ice. As if by magic, a frothy cap of lemonade grew right in front of the customer’s eyes, and the fizzy miracle drink delighted the taste buds.
In the 50s, soda water vending machines replaced carts. In America, they appeared a hundred years earlier, but in the USSR they were rarely met at first. But in the 60s and 70s, after the authorities visited the States, the number of machines with soda and carbonated lemonade increased several times.
The prototype of such machines appeared in the 1st century BC in Ancient Egypt. Under Heron of Alexandria, units with water were installed in the city, which was poured in portions under the pressure of a paid coin.
In the days of the Soviet Union, home siphons also appeared, with the help of which Soviet housewives made homemade lemonade from water and jam.
Cream soda
This type of lemonade was invented by a young physician Mitrofan Lagidze more than a century ago. Cream soda is made from soda water and beaten egg whites. Modern cream soda is made with dried, purified protein.
Tarhun
Another invention of Lagidze is Tarhun lemonade. At the end of the 19th century, he came up with a recipe based on the extract of the herb tarragon. The people call this plant tarragon – hence the name of the lemonade itself.
Sitro
The history of Citro lemonade began in 1812, but it became really popular during the Soviet era. The recipe for this lemonade was kept secret and only became available a few decades ago. Citro is prepared from citric acid, sugar, fruit syrup, natural preservatives, dyes and taste improvers. Citro contains calcium, fluorine, vitamin C, iron, magnesium and other vitamins and minerals.
Baikal
Baikal was created as an analogue of American cola in 1973. Technologists managed to achieve similarity with the original drink. In addition to citric acid and sugar, the original Baikal contains extracts of St. John’s wort, Eleutherococcus, licorice root, as well as several types of essential oil.