WEBVTT - What's the History of Lemonade?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff. From How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbamb Here, water, sugar and lemon juice. The recipe

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<v Speaker 1>for lemonade hasn't changed much in more than a thousand years.

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<v Speaker 1>Tart or sweet, pink or yellow, clear, cloudy or carbonated.

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<v Speaker 1>For as long as life has been handing out lemons,

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<v Speaker 1>people the world over, from ancient Egyptians to Beyonce have

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<v Speaker 1>been making lemonade. The exact origin of the lemon itself

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<v Speaker 1>has not been easy to ascertain, but new research has

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<v Speaker 1>clarified its lineage as a sour, orange and citron hybrid.

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<v Speaker 1>A February study in the science journal Nature reveals the

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<v Speaker 1>discovery of fossilized leaves and the un non province of

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<v Speaker 1>China proves citrus has been around since the late Miocene epoch,

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<v Speaker 1>some eight million years ago. The earliest record of the

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<v Speaker 1>precursor to lemonade hails from the Mediterranean coast of medieval Egypt.

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<v Speaker 1>Cush cub was made from fermented barley combined with mint, rue,

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<v Speaker 1>black pepper, and citron leaf, and the medieval Jewish community

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<v Speaker 1>in Cairo consumed, traded, and exported bottles of a sugary

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<v Speaker 1>lemon juice concoction called guitarmazat through the thirteenth century. While

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<v Speaker 1>the citron, which is like a lemon but larger with

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<v Speaker 1>a super thick rind and not much pulper juice, was

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<v Speaker 1>likely known by the ancient Jews and throughout the Mediterranean

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<v Speaker 1>before the Common Era, there's no proof that lemons were

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<v Speaker 1>around in pre Islamic times. The mosaics of Rome and

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<v Speaker 1>frescoes of Pompeii depict images of citrus fruits resembling lemons

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<v Speaker 1>and oranges, but there's no paleobotanical or written evidence that

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<v Speaker 1>they existed there. The earliest written reference to the lemon

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<v Speaker 1>tree is in a tenth century Arabic book on farming,

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<v Speaker 1>and in the late twelfth century, the personal physician to

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<v Speaker 1>the Muslim leader Saladin wrote a treatise on the lemon,

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<v Speaker 1>bringing it to the attention of a wider Mediterranean audience.

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<v Speaker 1>Flash forward to seventeenth century Europe. Lemonade debuted in Paris

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<v Speaker 1>on August six thirty Made of sparkling water, lemon juice,

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<v Speaker 1>and honey, menders sold it from tanks up to their backs.

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<v Speaker 1>While popular across Europe, lemonade became so fashionable in Paris

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<v Speaker 1>than sixteen seventy six, the vendors incorporated and formed a

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<v Speaker 1>union called the Company the Lemonadiers. The lemonade craze even

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<v Speaker 1>helped Paris fend off the plague, as we talked about

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<v Speaker 1>in a former episode. Britain's contribution to lemonade craze came

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<v Speaker 1>by way of chemist Joseph Priestley, who invented an apparatus

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<v Speaker 1>for making carbonated water. By the seventeen eighties, Johann Schwepp,

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<v Speaker 1>a German Swiss jeweler, had developed a new method of carbonation,

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<v Speaker 1>using a compression pump that made mass production more efficient.

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<v Speaker 1>By the eighteen thirties, schwepps fuzzy lemonade was readily available

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<v Speaker 1>around Europe. By the eighteenth century, lemonade had made its

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<v Speaker 1>way to America along with waves of European immigrants. During

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<v Speaker 1>the Victorian era, the women's temperance movement pushed lemonade as

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<v Speaker 1>an alternative to alcohol. One sun kissed slogan of the

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<v Speaker 1>day read Goodbye to liquor, Here's to lemonade. From eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy seven to eighteen eighty one, the White House banned

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<v Speaker 1>alcohol from all state dinners and other functions. Although President

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<v Speaker 1>Rutherford Behayes made the decision himself as a way to

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<v Speaker 1>court the Prohibition Party. Critics of the band dubbed his

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<v Speaker 1>wife Lucy, a renowned teetotaler. Lemonade Lucy and the Moniker

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<v Speaker 1>Stuck and the circus has a starring role in lemonades

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<v Speaker 1>long history. By the nineteenth century, both ice and the

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<v Speaker 1>traveling circus had hit the scene, and both were taking off.

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<v Speaker 1>The first known mention linking pink lemonade to the circus

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<v Speaker 1>comes from West Virginia's Wheeling Register in eighteen seventy nine.

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<v Speaker 1>Circus lore has many tales of how it's lemonade turned pink,

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<v Speaker 1>but historians find two of them the most viable. In one,

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<v Speaker 1>a concession worker invents pink lemonade when he accidentally drops

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<v Speaker 1>red colored cinnamon candies into a vat of regular lemonade.

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<v Speaker 1>In proverbial the show must go on style, he serves

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<v Speaker 1>lemonade anyway and the people lap it up. In the

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<v Speaker 1>other story, a harried concession worker in need of water

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<v Speaker 1>to make a fresh batch of lemonade for an impatient

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<v Speaker 1>line of thirsty customers, grabs the first liquid he sees

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<v Speaker 1>and it turns out to be a tub of wash

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<v Speaker 1>water in which a performer has just wrung out her

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<v Speaker 1>dirty pink tights. He uses it to make his new

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<v Speaker 1>and improved strawberry lemonade, and the crowd goes wild. Story

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<v Speaker 1>has it that from then on sales doubled, and henceforth

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<v Speaker 1>no top notch circus was ever without pink lemonade. Meanwhile,

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<v Speaker 1>the ubiquitous advice to make a lemonade out of adversity

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<v Speaker 1>probably became famous thanks to a phrase borrowed by Albert

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<v Speaker 1>Hubbard in nineteen fifteen for the obituary of an actor, writer,

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<v Speaker 1>and humorist Marshall Pickney Wilder. Wilder, known for his brilliant

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<v Speaker 1>stand up routines, was a world famous, much beloved household

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<v Speaker 1>name during a time when jobs for people like him

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<v Speaker 1>could only be found in circus side shows. Standing three

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<v Speaker 1>ft five inches tall that's a little over in meter.

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<v Speaker 1>With a severe spinal deformity, he refused to stigmatize others

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<v Speaker 1>or be stigmatized. Fate handed me a lemon he said,

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<v Speaker 1>but I have made lemonade of it. Today's episode was

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<v Speaker 1>written by Carrie Tato and produced by Tyler Clang. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>supposed to remind you to contain yourself in brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>themed t shirts from our online shop at t public

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