# Soda Jerks: What's a "Black & White"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [October 4, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400 "2004-10-04T01:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/1 "2004-10-04T01:17:53Z")
OK, so I’m a softy…I was watching “Leave It To Beaver” when the parents stopped at the soda counter of a drug store and ordered two “black and whites”? What is this, a Coke float? Or, an egg cream (which I think is a British kind of thing - like custard, I WAG?) Can anyone flash back to yesteryear and recall? Thanks! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/2 "2004-10-04T01:23:51Z")
Chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream most likely ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/3 "2004-10-04T01:33:41Z")
Here’s a black & white: ---------- Recipe via Meal-Master ™ v8.02 ``` Title: Black & White Soda ``` Categories: Beverages Yield: 1 servings ``` 2 tb Chocolate Syrup 1/4 c Milk 3 Scoop Vanilla Ice Cream 1 ts Vanilla 7 oz Chilled Club Soda Whipped Cream Maraschino Cherry ``` Combine chocolate syrup, milk, 1 scoop ice cream, and vanilla in a tall glass. Stir vigorously with spoon to blend. Fill glass two-thirds full with club soda; stir. Add remaining ice cream; fill glass with club soda. Garnish with whipped cream and cherry. Since you brought it up, here’s an egg cream: Matthew Goodman’s Egg Cream Makes 1 serving 1/3 cup whole milk 1 cup seltzer 2 tablespoons Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup Pour milk into a tall soda glass. Add seltzer to milk while stirring vigorously with a long spoon. The head should rise just to the top of the glass. Drizzle in syrup, stirring with small wrist motions to leave the head undisturbed. The resulting drink should have a dark brown bottom and a pure white foam, about one inch high, on top. and for some history on the name: [courtesy of the NYC tourism folks.](http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=674) ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/4 "2004-10-04T01:34:16Z")
Or a sundae, made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup on one side, and chocolate ice cream and marshmallow topping on the other. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/5 "2004-10-04T01:41:27Z")
A Black and White is an ice cream soda made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and seltzer. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/6 "2004-10-04T01:43:18Z")
Oh, and for god’s sake, an egg cream is NOT a “British kind of thing.” It’s a “New York kind of thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/7 "2004-10-04T02:37:57Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Oh, and for god’s sake, an egg cream is NOT a “British kind of thing.” It’s a “New York kind of thing.” And it has neither egg nor cream in it. ---
**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:** [October 4, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/8 "2004-10-04T03:04:59Z")
An egg cream is not just a NY kind of thing. It reaches at least as far as southern NJ, and I suspect much further down the Eastern Seaboard. Eva Luna, 3rd-generation ice cream professional whose grandparents used to have a soda fountain/sandwich shop in Trenton, NJ (But we have no egg creams here in Chicago, unless you come to my house. If you find any elsewhere in the Midwest, please let me know.) Couldn’t provide any further info on a black-and-white, though, but Dad may know more - he used to work in his parents’ shop through high school and college. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/9 "2004-10-04T03:48:41Z")
I had my first, and only, egg cream in Vermont (while on holidays). So it couldn’t even be limited to the eastern seaboard. Unless the restaurant was owned by a transplanted New Yorker. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/10 "2004-10-04T05:17:51Z")
Okay, so what’s an egg cream? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/11 "2004-10-04T06:47:24Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Oh, and for god’s sake, an egg cream is NOT a “British kind of thing.” It’s a “New York kind of thing.” Yeah … Lou Reed wrote a song about it! ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/12 "2004-10-04T06:56:49Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Okay, so what’s an egg cream? A sign of a very satisfied egg. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/13 "2004-10-04T14:57:34Z")
When we made it at the ice cream store my family used to own, the egg cream was milk, soda water, and chocolate syrup. I had one once. It was terrible. However, it’s really a New York thing with some isolate pockets here and there I think, like in Raleigh where half the people are from New York anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/14 "2004-10-04T15:12:44Z")
Why is an egg cream so called if it contains no egg? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/15 "2004-10-04T15:18:27Z")
After making egg creams for a friend’s kid recently, I finally realized what an egg cream tastes like. It tastes like an ice cream float after all the ice cream has melted/been eaten. And they are divine. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/16 "2004-10-04T15:30:21Z")
According to **danceswithcats** ’ link: > [@](#): > > According to NYCA, the original egg cream was produced in Manhattan. The syrup which was used was made with eggs, and cream was used to give it a richer taste. Later milk and regular syrup were employed, but the name was kept. However, recently I discussed the matter with a Bronx native who recalls getting a drink with the same name that had egg whites added to make it more frothy. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/17 "2004-10-04T16:38:17Z")
Fine, fine, but then how do you make a dead baby float? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/18 "2004-10-04T16:39:57Z")
You start with two scoops of dead baby… ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/19 "2004-10-04T18:31:11Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > (Egg cream…) A mixture of milk, syrup and seltzer water, just how it got its name is one of those things nobody seems to know for sure. I seem to remember hearing decades ago that egg creams were originally sold on Sunday; the blue laws in NYC at the time made it illegal to sell fountain drinks containing egg or cream. Then again, I was living half a continent away at the time, so what do I know? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400/20 "2004-10-04T18:44:57Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > …in Raleigh where half the people are from New York anyway. [Aside] You mean the entire state of North Carolina. When I was still living there (near Charlotte) I worked at a restaurant with 16 employees. 11 of them were from New York. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soda-jerks-whats-a-black-white/267400.md?page=2)