Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Drinking straw had a serious purpose

One hundred and nineteen years ago today, a patent was awarded for the invention of the drinking straw.

You probably think this is a piece of information you could live without knowing. While it may now not seem like a momentous occasion, at the time it was a discovery that meant the difference between life and death.

In the late 19th century, it was common practice for people to drink out of the same glass. Children at school and workers in factories commonly shared a cup.

Scientists had just proved that diseases were spread through sharing the same drinking glass. Cholera and tuberculosis were major killers. Drinking straws were offered as a sanitary way to drink.

Drinking straws quickly became enormously popular, but not because of their health benefits. Straws added to the novelty of the recent invention of the ice cream soda and root beer float. Sipping soda through a straw became an American pastime.

I doubt that health department officials today would say that sharing a soda, even with separate straws, would be totally safe.

Most people don't need a recipe to make an ice cream soda. This version, however, finds a use for all of those hard peppermint candies that sit around after Christmas. Turning them into peppermint syrup offers a way of making a variety of sweet refreshments. Peppermint Ice Cream Soda is one of my favorites.

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