Szóda

Back home in Hungary after our week in Croatia, it was still hot hot hot (around 38 degrees) and we were gasping for refreshment. The soda had all been drunk. Returnable soda siphons such as these are widely available in Hungary prefilled with seltzer.

It's an essential part of what we call the "spritzer", but which Hungarians call the "fröccs" (after the sound it makes when squirted out of the bottle). There are, I learned from Ildi, several grades of the fizzy drink: kisfröccs, Nagyfröccs, Hosszúlépés, Házmester. It's a mysterious world, but as an example, the "big step" comprises one part wine, two parts soda), the "janitor" comprises three parts wine, two parts soda.

The origins of the soda siphon are shrouded in mystery, but the Hungarians (who invented many many things we use daily) claim to be the first, in 1829 by a Hungarian Benedictine teacher named Anyos Jedlik, who never patented the method.