“A lady whose husband had a severe cold recomended flaxseed lemonade.
‘Huh!’ he said, irascibly, ‘a man can’t have a cold without everybody suggesting some fool remedy. I’ll send for a doctor.’
So the doctor came, charged the sick man $2 for his visit and advised flaxseed lemonade.” – New York Sun, 1887
The earliest recorded evidence of lemonade comes from Egypt, where in the year 1000 AD, peasants made a drink of lemons, dates, and honey. The poet Nasir-i-Khusraw wrote of a bottled beverage made from sugar and lemon juice, known as qatarmizat, being traded and exported.
In 17th century France, a honey-sweetened version of lemonade was sold by street vendors known as ‘limonadiers’.
Meanwhile, in Britain, they had been enjoying various forms of a drink called a “posset,” made variously with milk wine, spices, herbs, or/and sometimes egg. Lemon and orange juice inevitably made their way into these beverages. And so, “egg lemonade” became a logical form of refreshment.
“The Up-To-Date Bartender’s Guide,” Harry Montague, 1913