WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What's the History of Lemonade?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here with an episode from

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<v Speaker 1>the brain Stuff archives, and this one discusses the long

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<v Speaker 1>and fascinating history of a common drink, from temperance to

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<v Speaker 1>the plague lemonade. Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam Here, water, sugar,

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<v Speaker 1>and lemon juice. The recipe for lemonade hasn't changed much

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<v Speaker 1>in more than a thousand years. Tart or sweet, pink

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<v Speaker 1>or yellow, clear, cloudy or carbonated. For as long as

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<v Speaker 1>life has been handing out lemons, people the world over,

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<v Speaker 1>from ancient Egyptians to Beyonce, have been making lemonade. The

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<v Speaker 1>exact origin of the lemon itself has not been easy

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<v Speaker 1>to ascertain, but new research has clarified its lineage as

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<v Speaker 1>a sour, orange and citron hybrid. A February study in

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<v Speaker 1>the science journal Nature reveals the discovery of fossilized leaves

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<v Speaker 1>and the yu Non province of China proves citrus has

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<v Speaker 1>been around since the late Miocene epoch, some eight million

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<v Speaker 1>years ago. The earliest record of the precursor to lemonade

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<v Speaker 1>hails from the Mediterranean coast of medieval Egypt. Kush cub

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<v Speaker 1>was made from fermented barley combined with mint, rue, black pepper,

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<v Speaker 1>and citron leaf, and the medieval Jewish community in Cairo consumed, traded,

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<v Speaker 1>and exported bottles of a sugary lemon juice concoction called

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<v Speaker 1>guitarmazot through the thirteenth century. While the citron, which is

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<v Speaker 1>like a lemon but larger with a super thick rind

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<v Speaker 1>and not much pulper juice, was likely known by the

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<v Speaker 1>ancient Jews and throughout the Mediterranean before the Common Era,

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<v Speaker 1>there's no proof that lemons were around in pre Islamic times.

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<v Speaker 1>The mosaics of Rome and frescoes of Pompeii depict images

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<v Speaker 1>of citrus fruits resembling lemons and oranges, but there's no

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<v Speaker 1>paleobotanical or written evidence that they existed there. The earliest

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<v Speaker 1>written reference to the lemon tree is in a tenth

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<v Speaker 1>century Arabic book on farming, and in the late twelfth century,

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<v Speaker 1>the personal physician to the Muslim leader Saladin wrote a

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<v Speaker 1>treatise on the lemon, bringing it to the attention of

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<v Speaker 1>a wider metatru Adian audience. Flash forward to seventeenth century

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<v Speaker 1>Europe lemonade debuted in Paris on August sixteen thirty Made

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<v Speaker 1>of sparkling water, lemon juice, and honey, menders sold it

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<v Speaker 1>from tanks strapped to their backs. While popular across Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>lemonade became so fashionable in Paris than sixteen seventy six

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<v Speaker 1>the vendors incorporated and formed a union called the Company

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<v Speaker 1>the Lemonadiers. The lemonade craze even helped Paris fend off

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<v Speaker 1>the plague, as we talked about in a former episode.

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<v Speaker 1>Britain's contribution to lemonade craze came by way of chemist

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<v Speaker 1>Joseph Priestley, who invented an apparatus for making carbonated water.

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<v Speaker 1>By the seventeen eighties, Johann Schwepp, a German Swiss jeweler,

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<v Speaker 1>had developed a new method of carbonation using a compression

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<v Speaker 1>pump that made mass production more efficient. By the eighteen thirties,

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<v Speaker 1>schwepps fuzzy lemonade was readily available around Europe. By the

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<v Speaker 1>eighteenth century, lemonade had made its way to America along

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<v Speaker 1>with waves of European immigrants. During Victorian era, the women's

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<v Speaker 1>temperance movement pushed lemonade as an alternative to alcohol. One

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<v Speaker 1>sun kissed slogan of the day read goodbye to liquor,

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<v Speaker 1>Here's lemonade. From eighteen seventy seven to eighteen eighty one,

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<v Speaker 1>the White House banned alcohol from all state dinners and

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<v Speaker 1>other functions, Although President Rutherford be Hayes made the decision

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<v Speaker 1>himself as a way to court the Prohibition Party. Critics

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<v Speaker 1>of the band dubbed his wife Lucy, a renowned teetotaler

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<v Speaker 1>lemonade Lucy and the Moniker. Stuck and the circus has

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<v Speaker 1>a starring role in lemonades long history. By the nineteenth century,

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<v Speaker 1>both ice and the traveling circus had hit the scene,

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<v Speaker 1>and both were taking off. The first known mention linking

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<v Speaker 1>pink lemonade to the circus comes from West Virginia's Wheeling

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<v Speaker 1>Register in eighteen seventy nine. Circus lore has many tales

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<v Speaker 1>of how it's lemonade turned pink, but historians find two

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<v Speaker 1>of them the most viable. In one, a concession worker

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<v Speaker 1>invents pink lemonade when he accidentally drops red colored cinnamon

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<v Speaker 1>candies into a vat of regular lemonade. In proverbial the

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<v Speaker 1>show must go on style, he serves lemonade anyway, and

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<v Speaker 1>the people lap it up. And the other story, a

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<v Speaker 1>harried concession worker, in need of water to make a

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<v Speaker 1>fresh batch of lemonade for an impatient line of thirsty customers,

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<v Speaker 1>grabs the first liquid he sees, and it turns out

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<v Speaker 1>to be a tub of wash water in which a

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<v Speaker 1>performer has just wrung out her dirty pink tights. He

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<v Speaker 1>uses it to make his new and improved strawberry lemonade,

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<v Speaker 1>and the crowd goes wild. Story has it that from

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<v Speaker 1>then on sales doubled, and henceforth no top notch circus

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<v Speaker 1>was ever without pink lemonade. Meanwhile, the ubiquitous advice to

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<v Speaker 1>make a lemonade out of adversity probably became famous thanks

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<v Speaker 1>to a phrase borrowed by Albert Hubbard in nineteen fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>for the obituary of an actor, writer, and humorist Marshall

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<v Speaker 1>Pickney Wilder. Wilder, known for his brilliant stand up routines,

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<v Speaker 1>was a world famous, much beloved household name during a

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<v Speaker 1>time when jobs for people like him could only be

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<v Speaker 1>found in circus side shows. Standing three ft five inches

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<v Speaker 1>tall that's a little over in meter. With a severe

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<v Speaker 1>spinal deformity, he refused to stigmatize others or be stigmatized.

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<v Speaker 1>Fate handed me a lemon, he said, but I have

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<v Speaker 1>made lemonade of it. Today's episode is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article The Fascinating History of Lemonade on how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, written by Carrie Tato. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of My heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my heart Radio visit the heart Radio app,

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