Cream soda (also known as creme soda or creaming soda) is a sweet soft drink. Generally flavored with vanilla and based on the taste of an ice cream float, a wide range of variations can be found worldwide.
History and development
A recipe for cream soda written by E. M. Sheldon and published in Michigan Farmer in 1852 called for water, cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate), Epsom salts, sugar, egg, and milk to be mixed, then heated, then mixed again once cooled with water and a quarter teaspoonful of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to make an effervescent drink. It was suggested as a temperance drink preferable to those of "Uncle Bacchus" and in compliance with the recently introduced Maine law.
Alexander C. Howell of Vienna, New Jersey was granted a patent for "cream soda-water" on June 27, 1865. Howell's cream soda-water was made with sodium bicarbonate, water, sugar, egg whites, wheat flour, and "any of the usual flavoring materials—such as oil of lemon, extracts of vanilla, pine-apple, to suit the taste". Before drinking, the cream soda-water was mixed with water and an acid such as tartaric acid or citric acid. In Canada, James William Black of Berwick, Nova Scotia, was granted a U.S. patent on December 8, 1885, and a Canadian patent on July 5, 1886, for "ice-cream soda". Black's ice-cream soda, which contained whipped egg whites, sugar, lime juice, lemons, citric acid, flavoring, and bicarbonate of soda, was a concentrated syrup that could be reconstituted into an effervescent beverage by adding ordinary ice water.
International variations
North and South America
United States
In the United States, cream soda is often vanilla-flavored and is either clear or colored a light golden brown or pink. Red, orange, and blue colored variants of the plain soda are also made.
Popular brands include: AriZona Soda Shaq A-Treat Cream Soda A&W Vanilla Cream Soda Barq's Red Creme Soda Big Red Blue Sky Boylan's Creme Vanilla Big Shot Cream Soda (New Orleans area) Canfield's Swiss Creme (mainly in the Chicago area) Dad's Cream Soda Dang! That's Good Red Cream Soda Dr Pepper Vanilla Float Dr Pepper Cream Soda (Sold as Dr Pepper & Cream Soda, a mix of both beverages) Dr. Brown's (mainly in the New York City area, but also kosher delicatessens across the country) Faygo Fitz's Cream Soda and Cardinal Cream (St. Louis Area) Foxon Park (mainly in Connecticut) Hosmer Mountain (mainly in Connecticut) Henry Weinhard's Cream Soda IBC Jones Soda Jelly Belly French Vanilla Cream Soda Mug Cream Soda Original New York Seltzer Vanilla Cream Soda Pepsi Cream Soda Polar Beverages Cream Soda Shasta Creme Soda SodaStream Cream Soda Syrup Sprecher Brewery Stewart's Vess (Old St. Louis variety that is a deep pink) Virgil's Cream Soda White Rock Beverages Zevia
Another variety is referred to as Italian cream soda. Despite the name, this drink originated in the US, not in Italy. The name is due to it being a form of Italian soda. Italian cream soda is usually made of a mixture of carbonated water, vanilla syrup, and added half and half or cream. Ratios vary widely, but the taste is usually that of sweetened, flavored milk.
Canada
In Canada, cream soda is mostly pink, although clear versons can be found in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Some brands, such as Fanta, market clear cream soda nationwide. Many brands have a long-lasting, foamy head.
Brands include: Barq's Cream Soda – colourless Big 8 Cream Soda - pink and clear Cott Cream Soda Crush - pink and clear Fanta Jones Soda Kiri Cream Soda – colourless Life Brand The Pop Shoppe – also markets a vodka-based alcoholic version President's Choice Walmart Canada – US-style vanilla flavour
Some American brands are available in Canada as imports.
Caribbean and Latin America
Cream soda is usually served as a "red pop", particularly Fanta's Red Cream Soda. Champagne cola (also spelled "kola"), a soft drink similar to cream soda, is ubiquitous across the region. In the Caribbean there are several popular brands of clear, vanilla-flavoured cream soda.
Bigga (Jamaica) Crema Soda (El Salvador) DG Soft Drink Cream Soda (Jamaica) Frescolita (Venezuela) – a bubble gum-flavored soda Inca Kola (Peru) – sometimes considered a champagne cola, sometimes considered its own drink Old Jamaica Cream Soda (Jamaica) Solo Beverage Company (Trinidad) ToniCol (Mexico) – a naturally flavored vanilla soda