# Cherry Phosphate Soda Pop?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 6, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043 "2002-12-06T23:16:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/1 "2002-12-06T23:16:38Z")

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What was in a cherry phosphate soda (pop)? This must have been a 1950’s trend (only learning of it from the “Happy Days” series). Is this just like Dr. Pepper, I WAG, today? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/2 "2002-12-06T23:40:49Z")

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Phosphates go back way before the 1950’s – more like the turn of the century or the teens. I think they were just the early name for fizzy fountain soda: no special ingredients, just flavored syrup and seltzer water. But I might be wrong.

Wait for Eve. This is her era.

(No offense Eve, dearie. You know what I meant.)

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**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/3 "2002-12-07T00:01:15Z")

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Did they really have Phosphates in them (The polyatomic ion Phosphate, you know PO4)?

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/4 "2002-12-07T01:14:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by stuyguy \*  
> [BI think they were just the early name for fizzy fountain soda: no special ingredients, just flavored syrup and seltzer water. But I might be wrong. \*\*

I’m pretty sure this is correct.  
before Woolworth went belly up you could still get a phosphate at their lunch counter. It tasted just like flavored soda (orange, grape, chery, cherry cola, etc) that’s all. Spiffy name is all it is.

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**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/5 "2002-12-07T02:23:09Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by stuyguy \*  
> \*\*Phosphates go back way before the 1950’s – more like the turn of the century or the teens. I think they were just the early name for fizzy fountain soda: no special ingredients, just flavored syrup and seltzer water. But I might be wrong.
> 
> \*\*

Third-generation soda jerk here. I’d ask my grandfather, who owned a soda shop for 40 years, how far back phosphates go, but he died last year at the ripe old age of 96.

I used to make them myself, though, when I worked at Swensen’s, as recently as 1983. They don’t have to be cherry; they can be any flavor for which you have syrup to make sodas. The “phosphate” name comes from the few drops of weak phosphoric acid that goes in at the end; it’s supposed to give you a little tingle when you drink it.

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/6 "2002-12-07T03:42:43Z")

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what is phosphoric acid?

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/7 "2002-12-07T05:37:41Z")

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[Naval Jelly](http://www.shorechemical.com/Section%207%20Tech%20Sheets/naval_jelly.htm) :eek:

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**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cherry-phosphate-soda-pop/141043/8 "2002-12-07T06:03:30Z")

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There’s still phosphoric acid in cannd/bottled soda pop. It’s great for rust removal.