Saloop

A 1820 sketch by Rowlandson showing members of the lower orders enjoying saloop, which they are drinking from the saucer.^[1]

Saloop was a hot drink which was popular in England in the 18th and 19th century. Initially, it was made from salep — a flour made from orchid roots which thickened the drink. Later, the roots and leaves of the North American sassafras tree were the key ingredient. This plant thickened the drink and also had a stimulating quality.

This refreshing beverage was sold in place of tea and coffee, which were much more expensive, and was served in a similar way with milk and sugar. Its popularity declined when it was reputed as a good remedy for venereal disease and so drinking it in public became shameful.^[2][3][4]

References

1. ↑ Thomas Rowlandson (1820), Rowlandson's Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders of the British Metropolis, Samuel Leigh
2. ↑ Holly Chase (1994), "Suspect Salep", Look and Feel: Studies In Texture, Appearance and Incidental Characteristics of Food, Oxford Symposium, pp. 45–46, ISBN 978-0907325567
3. ↑ Edwin Augustus Peeples (1994), Planting an Inheritance, Stackpole Books, p. 62, ISBN 978-0811712064
4. ↑ Jonathan Pereira (2014), The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics 1, Cambridge University Press, p. 463, ISBN 978-1108068833