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Drink

Philadelphia Mead

A fermented beverage made from boiling water, brown sugar, molasses, tartaric acid, flavoring extract, and syrup, served with ice water and bicarbonate.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Philadelphia Mead

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine boiling water, brown sugar, molasses, and tartaric acid in a bowl.

  2. Let the mixture cool, then add the flavoring extract.

  3. Bottle the mixture and store it in a cool place.

Serve

  1. To serve, mix 2 tablespoons of the syrup in a glass of ice-water. Stir until well mixed, then add ¼ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to make it effervescent.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + syruptop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tartaric acid
Provides sharp acidity and, with bicarbonate of soda, creates the fizz when served.
Brown sugar
Supplies sweetness and body to the mixture.
Molasses
Adds depth of flavor and dark color with extra sweetness.
Bicarbonate of soda
Reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide, making the drink effervescent.

The step that matters

Adding the bicarbonate of soda. Bicarbonate of soda must be stirred in just before drinking, once the mixture is in the glass. It reacts with the tartaric acid to release carbon dioxide, so adding it too early lets the fizz escape before serving.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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