1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here with an episode from 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: the brain Stuff archives, and this one discusses the long 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: and fascinating history of a common drink, from temperance to 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: the plague lemonade. Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam Here, water, sugar, 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 1: and lemon juice. The recipe for lemonade hasn't changed much 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: in more than a thousand years. Tart or sweet, pink 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: or yellow, clear, cloudy or carbonated. For as long as 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: life has been handing out lemons, people the world over, 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: from ancient Egyptians to Beyonce, have been making lemonade. The 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: exact origin of the lemon itself has not been easy 12 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: to ascertain, but new research has clarified its lineage as 13 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: a sour, orange and citron hybrid. A February study in 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: the science journal Nature reveals the discovery of fossilized leaves 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,279 Speaker 1: and the yu Non province of China proves citrus has 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: been around since the late Miocene epoch, some eight million 17 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: years ago. The earliest record of the precursor to lemonade 18 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: hails from the Mediterranean coast of medieval Egypt. Kush cub 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: was made from fermented barley combined with mint, rue, black pepper, 20 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: and citron leaf, and the medieval Jewish community in Cairo consumed, traded, 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: and exported bottles of a sugary lemon juice concoction called 22 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: guitarmazot through the thirteenth century. While the citron, which is 23 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: like a lemon but larger with a super thick rind 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: and not much pulper juice, was likely known by the 25 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: ancient Jews and throughout the Mediterranean before the Common Era, 26 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: there's no proof that lemons were around in pre Islamic times. 27 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: The mosaics of Rome and frescoes of Pompeii depict images 28 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: of citrus fruits resembling lemons and oranges, but there's no 29 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: paleobotanical or written evidence that they existed there. The earliest 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: written reference to the lemon tree is in a tenth 31 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: century Arabic book on farming, and in the late twelfth century, 32 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: the personal physician to the Muslim leader Saladin wrote a 33 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: treatise on the lemon, bringing it to the attention of 34 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: a wider metatru Adian audience. Flash forward to seventeenth century 35 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: Europe lemonade debuted in Paris on August sixteen thirty Made 36 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: of sparkling water, lemon juice, and honey, menders sold it 37 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: from tanks strapped to their backs. While popular across Europe, 38 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: lemonade became so fashionable in Paris than sixteen seventy six 39 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 1: the vendors incorporated and formed a union called the Company 40 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: the Lemonadiers. The lemonade craze even helped Paris fend off 41 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: the plague, as we talked about in a former episode. 42 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: Britain's contribution to lemonade craze came by way of chemist 43 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: Joseph Priestley, who invented an apparatus for making carbonated water. 44 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: By the seventeen eighties, Johann Schwepp, a German Swiss jeweler, 45 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: had developed a new method of carbonation using a compression 46 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: pump that made mass production more efficient. By the eighteen thirties, 47 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: schwepps fuzzy lemonade was readily available around Europe. By the 48 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, lemonade had made its way to America along 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: with waves of European immigrants. During Victorian era, the women's 50 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,519 Speaker 1: temperance movement pushed lemonade as an alternative to alcohol. One 51 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: sun kissed slogan of the day read goodbye to liquor, 52 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: Here's lemonade. From eighteen seventy seven to eighteen eighty one, 53 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: the White House banned alcohol from all state dinners and 54 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: other functions, Although President Rutherford be Hayes made the decision 55 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: himself as a way to court the Prohibition Party. Critics 56 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: of the band dubbed his wife Lucy, a renowned teetotaler 57 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: lemonade Lucy and the Moniker. Stuck and the circus has 58 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: a starring role in lemonades long history. By the nineteenth century, 59 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: both ice and the traveling circus had hit the scene, 60 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: and both were taking off. The first known mention linking 61 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: pink lemonade to the circus comes from West Virginia's Wheeling 62 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: Register in eighteen seventy nine. Circus lore has many tales 63 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: of how it's lemonade turned pink, but historians find two 64 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: of them the most viable. In one, a concession worker 65 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: invents pink lemonade when he accidentally drops red colored cinnamon 66 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: candies into a vat of regular lemonade. In proverbial the 67 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: show must go on style, he serves lemonade anyway, and 68 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: the people lap it up. And the other story, a 69 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: harried concession worker, in need of water to make a 70 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: fresh batch of lemonade for an impatient line of thirsty customers, 71 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,599 Speaker 1: grabs the first liquid he sees, and it turns out 72 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: to be a tub of wash water in which a 73 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: performer has just wrung out her dirty pink tights. He 74 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,719 Speaker 1: uses it to make his new and improved strawberry lemonade, 75 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: and the crowd goes wild. Story has it that from 76 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: then on sales doubled, and henceforth no top notch circus 77 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: was ever without pink lemonade. Meanwhile, the ubiquitous advice to 78 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: make a lemonade out of adversity probably became famous thanks 79 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: to a phrase borrowed by Albert Hubbard in nineteen fifteen 80 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: for the obituary of an actor, writer, and humorist Marshall 81 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: Pickney Wilder. Wilder, known for his brilliant stand up routines, 82 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: was a world famous, much beloved household name during a 83 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 1: time when jobs for people like him could only be 84 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: found in circus side shows. Standing three ft five inches 85 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: tall that's a little over in meter. With a severe 86 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: spinal deformity, he refused to stigmatize others or be stigmatized. 87 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: Fate handed me a lemon, he said, but I have 88 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: made lemonade of it. Today's episode is based on the 89 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: article The Fascinating History of Lemonade on how stuff works 90 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: dot com, written by Carrie Tato. Brain Stuff is production 91 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: of My heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works 92 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 93 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, 94 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.