Does anyone recall Pal soda? I lived in CT and in the late 40s and early 50s I wouldn't drink carbonated soda. When we picnicked and everyone else drank Coke or Pepsi, I had Pal which was an uncarbonated orange soda. My father would cook hot dogs over a tiny charcoal grill and I ate mine, with no condiments, on a roll and drank Pal. Those were the days!
Another oldie is Moxie. My father came from Maine and we made an occasional trip there. He would buy a wooden crate of small Moxie bottles and take it home. He was the only one in the family who drank the stuff and he insisted it was a REAL soda and not like those sissy colas the rest of the family drank. I actually have a few cans of Moxie that I keep on hand so I can offer friends an idea of the way soda used to taste. I consider Moxie to taste almost as awful as beer or Robitussin ;-)

mudlady, I live in New Hampshire where Moxie (and now diet Moxie) is still for sale in most large supermarkets. My mother's sisters always take a case of it back home whenever they come to visit. It is an acquired taste, I think.

I rarely drink sodas, but if I have a craving for one, it's Moxie. I laughed when you likened it to Robitussin. I don't make that connection, but when I was young there was a medicine called "St. John's" that came in a dark brown bottle. I loved that stuff, and after reading your post I realized it tasted like Moxie!

I had cousins who lived in Detroit. I remember being introduced to "Vernor's" soda out there. It's ginger-ale-y, but with a little something extra I can't describe. If they'd sold it around here, I may well have become a soda drinker!

Thanks for the memories!

I just brought a case of Moxie home from Maine last weekend, I was "home" for a few days staying with friends - it was great to be back up there! DH is from the south and had never had it nor had my kids. The kids LOVE it LOL! They are even drinking Moxie and Milk (a Brown Cow I think) and think that is just the best.

DH decided it tastes like Jeagermeister without the alcoholic benefits. I think the kids will be able to enjoy the case without ANYONE trying to steal one LOLOLOL!

Alexa

Never heard of Moxie, but drank so many Grapette's one day that I got so sick I never wanted or drank another one. Also, seems like there was a Grapisco at one time. I remember the "rolling store" or "pedler" as we used to call him. I always looked forward to the Pedler coming by. I was too young to remember the reason now. We grew our own veggie garden and raised our own chickens so I don't know what Mother bought from him. My Grandmother always drank RC Cola's. I think some places here may still have them.

Funny you should speak of sodas. I'm 41 now and grew in So.Cal and my favorite soda and one I remember vividly was an apple soda called Aspen. In fact the commercial was so nice we ended up naming a new dog after it. The commercial had snow and white parkas, pretty girls etc. So our white Alaska Spitz, we named Aspen. It would be nice to have one of those again. Also, only in the south can you can Sundrop soda. My aunt/uncle could either get it or not get it in N.C. but did the opposite where they lived in Ga. Oh.. the days of 8 pack glass bottles, not the six packs we got in CA!!! Thanks for making me think of good memories of childhood.

My grandmother use to drink Wilson's ginger ale. I hadn't thought about that in years. It was my favourite ginger ale as a kid.

Ann

In the 80's as a teenager I lived on TAB soda...they stopped selling it here for the good portion of 15yrs now 2 of my local supermarkets sell it in 6 pack cans,no 2 liter available anymore. I buy it once a week and tell the kids and DH not to touch it. I pay 3.89 a six pack but to me its well worth it! It was so funny one day my 2 nephews (who are now in there early 30's...we are close in age) came over and were hysterical laughing when they opened my refrigerator they couldnt believe I found TAB soda they said they had a childhood flash back to my mothers house when I was 16 and they were kids! But they always tease me that im such a 80's girl...still!

Another uncarbonated soda is a grapey concoction called Delaware Punch. It was popular in the South in the 50's. Looking at Wikipedia, apparently it now is owned by Coca Cola but is hard to find. Haven't seen one in decades.

You actually have to be in the deep south to get Sundrop. You can't get it in Tennessee until you're almost at the stateline. Seems like Lawrenceburg is the first place you can stop and get it. Growing up, I loved orange and grape Nehi, but you sure don't see those anymore. Our mom would take us grocery shopping and we got to pick out two things, one was a box of sugary cereal (how did I eat that yucky stuff?!) neither of the other siblings were allowed to have, and the other was two drinks per child for a total of one six pack. Mark always got Dr. Pepper (which he settled for since we came from California and he could get Mr. Pibb there, but not here), huh, all of a sudden, I don't remember what sis got, and I always got a Sprite and a Nehi. Coke in glass bottles is my current splurge (as in one every six months since I quit caffeine a couple of years ago). In high school it was Tahitian Treat every day until I got my own car and then it was Cherry Coke released shortly after New Coke was taken back off the market.

Sundrop is everywhere here. As a matter of fact it's most of my family's soft "drink of choice." For some reason the Sundrop bottled in Tennessee seems to taste better than that bottled in Alabama. LOL

Great thread. One of my fondest memories was a lunch my mother packed for me in elementary school: kosher salami on rye bread and an orange drink that came in small, conical containers with a seal on top. I have no idea what the name of the product was, but it was uncarbonated and wonderful. Another favorite was Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup. It's far better than Hershey's and has a creamier texture. It can still be found, but it's expensive when you do find it. My most favorite of all was my mom's sour cream cookies with raisins. My father and I would wait by the oven until they were ready and then pounce! And then we would wait until they got stale and hard as rocks. They were great dunking cookies. They weren't very sweet, more like a tea biscuit. I have the recipe, but they just don't turn out the same. Maybe it's because my mom used a water glass to cut them out???

I've only lived in Tennessee 8 months, but I'd swear I see a billboard for Sundrop around where we live, south of Nashville. I'll have to check -- I think it might be in Columbia. Guess I'll have to try it now that I'm officially a Tennesseean!

Arlene

Eileen,
My sister only drank Tab for years -- since the 60's or 70's (?)-- so I'm very familiar with the problems of availability and expense in obtaining it. But guess what -- she recently found out that she loves Coke Zero! So after all these years, she can drink another cola. Life is much easier now.

Seems like this is mostly a drink thread... but, if I may, I'd like to talk about my G'mas teacakes.

They were little cookies that had the flackiness of pie crust. Just a little tougher (or more together, if you will - like a cookie). They didn't puff in the oven, were delicately crisp, very thin, slightly sweet, sprinkled with sugar, and shaped like hearts.

The recipe died with her, unfortunately. In any case, everyone she ever gave the recipe to swore that she left something out. None ever turned out like hers. I was not a recipient of the recipe, btw.

Let that be a lesson to stingy cooks. You may be the only one with the golden dish, but when you die it goes with you. Better to share, in my opinion, and be remembered that way. :)

They were the best "sugar cookies" I've ever eaten. I really wish she would have shared.

If any of you have something that resembles that description, I'd love it if you would post it. I've never encountered anything like it anywhere - be it home, bakery, or restaurant.

G'ma was originally from Georgia. Her father from Ireland, and not sure where her mom came from - I think it was Georgia, as well.

Growing up in Oklahoma, I always drank Dr Pepper. Once we were driving across Canada and I couldn't find Dr. Pepper. We stopped at a supermarket and bought Lime Crush which we had never seen before. We were familiar with Orange Crush, but not Lime. We all loved it. A couple of yours ago, my son, who works for a major oil company was doing business with a lady in Canada. He had a childhood memory of Lime Crush and asked her about it. She sent him some. Now that was a neat thing to do.