Wake up America, and start drinking squash!

[AK84]

Squash is drunk in Pakistan too. Shocked you cannot find it in the US. Nothing better on a summer day.

[Cazzle]

If you ever get the chance to try this stuff, do. Mixed with soda water, it’s divine.

[jz78817]

Why is it that in America we don’t have squash?

because we have a bunch of other things people like and nobody’s asking for it.

[CalMeacham]

For years I wondered what the drink Heinlein was referring to in Starship Troopers. It was casually referred to as [fruit] “Squash”, but Heinlein never defined it. I assume it was a made-up futuristic drink, but he might have picked up the name “squash” during his travels.
Just so you know, what seems to be very nearly the same drink as described in the thread above was extremely popular in 18th-19th century America, under the name “Shrub”:

A shrub can also refer to a cocktail or soft drink that was popular during America’s colonial era, made by mixing a vinegared syrup with spirits, water, or carbonated water.[1][4][5] The term “shrub” can also be applied to the sweetened vinegar-based syrup, from which the cocktail is made; the syrup is also known as drinking vinegar.[3][6][7] Drinking vinegar is often infused with fruit juice, herbs and spices for use in mixed drinks.[6][8][

…

The American version of the shrub has its origins in 17th century England where vinegar was used as an alternative to citrus juices in the preservation of berries and other fruits for the off-season.[10][11] Fruit preserves made in this fashion were themselves known as shrubs[10] and the practice carried over to colonial America.[4][6] By the 19th century, typical American recipes for shrubs used vinegar poured over fruit—traditionally berries—which was left to infuse anywhere from overnight up to several days; afterward the fruit would be strained out and the remaining liquid would be mixed with a sweetener such as sugar or honey and then reduced to make a syrup.[6][8][12] The sweet-and-sour syrup could be mixed with either water or soda water and served as a soft drink, or it could be used as a mixer in alcoholic cocktails.[4][11][12] Shrubs eventually fell out of popularity with the advent of home refrigeration.[10][13]

Shrub (drink)

I’ve bought shrub in the gift store at Sturbridge Village, a re-created 19th century town in Massachusetts, but I’ve seen it on sale elsewhere. You have to go looking for it, though. Despite the fact that it’s sweetened, and gets mixed with water or seltzer, the concept of “vinegar-based soft drink” is probably a hard sell in the US. Most hits on search engines are about making your own, but there are internet sites that sell them:

http://shrubdrinks.com/
This one is wonderfully entitled “Bring Me a Shrubbery”

Vending – Bring me a Shrubbery

[An_Gadai]

@DrCube

What’s wrong with watering down your juice to taste? Do Brits just have tiny refrigerators or something?

Doesn’t taste the same at all. Watered down juice is delicious as are cordials but cordials are way more artificial tasting.

[An_Gadai]

@AK84

Squash is drunk in Pakistan too. Shocked you cannot find it in the US. Nothing better on a summer day.

Also popular in this former part of the empire, Miwadi being the most popular brand. I now have a huge craving for lime cordial.

[Quercus_alba]

Was completely expecting this to be a thread about pumpkin and zucchini smoothies. :dubious:

[Acsenray]

I recall drinking orange squash while visiting my relatives in India. Back in the '70s if you wanted a carbonated drink (Thums Up, Limca, Campa-Cola, or Gold Spot) you had to drink it (through a stupid paper straw that closed up as soon as you took the first sip) right at the soft drink stand and return the bottle immediately.

I don’t know if there was an option to pay a deposit and take the bottle with you, but I never saw anyone doing it.

At home, we would have squash in the fridge.

I also recall that in Indian movies, squash was the stand-in for booze. Bad guys would go on drunken rampages between gulps from a bottle of bright orange syrup.

[bump]

@Acsenray

Back in the '70s if you wanted a carbonated drink (Thums Up, Limca, Campa-Cola, or Gold Spot) you had to drink it (through a stupid paper straw that closed up as soon as you took the first sip) right at the soft drink stand and return the bottle immediately.

Wow, that’s crappy.

[Banksiaman]

Australian cordials have been around for more than a century, so were mainly sold for mixing with water, before soda technology became domesticated. And popular especially in country areas to disguise the taste of water that often came from ground bores, tanks with floating carcasses and bird shit and had that interesting abrasive texture of suspended solids.

Being aimed at kids it was a way of delivering brightly coloured sugar concentrate straight into their bodies, while deceptively using words like ‘fruit’.

Also some cordial may have a mild sanitising effect on buggy water. A good overview here.

Squash, at least in NSW, tends to be used for cordials where they leave the pulpy bits to make it more authentic, rustic and genuine. Cottees is now owned by Kraft.