Egg cream


An egg cream is a cold beverage consisting of milk, carbonated water, and flavored syrup. Despite the name, the drink contains neither eggs nor cream.
It is prepared by pouring syrup into the glass, adding milk, lightly stirring it with a spoon, then streaming soda water into the glass, mixing the other ingredients. Ideally, the glass is left with 2/3 liquid and 1/3 foamy head.
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink. Although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none have been wholly successful, as its refreshing taste and characteristic head require mixing of the ingredients just before drinking.

Etymology theories and speculations

The peculiarity that an egg cream contains neither eggs nor cream has been explained in various ways. Stanley Auster, the grandson of the beverage's alleged inventor, has said that the origins of the name are lost in time.
It is generally assumed that the egg cream originated among Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jewish immigrants in New York City, so one explanation claims that egg is a corruption of the Yiddish echt 'genuine or real', making an egg cream a "good cream".
Food historian Andrew Smith writes: "During the 1880s, a popular specialty was made with chocolate syrup, cream, and raw eggs mixed into soda water. In poorer neighborhoods, a less expensive version of this treat was created, called the Egg Cream."
Another explanation comes from reports that it grew out of a request for chocolat et crème from someone, possibly the actor Boris Thomashefsky who had experienced a similar drink in Paris, which according to his heavy accent morphed the name into something like "egg cream", which then developed into the current term.

Celebration

To celebrate the egg cream and the many handmade drinks of the soda fountain, a group of independent soda fountain operators have declared March 15 as National Egg Cream Day.