saloop

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English

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WOTD – 28 February 2018

Etymology

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A 19th-century illustration of a soldier and a woman drinking saloop (sense 1) from saucers[1]
Flowers and leaves of the saloop or red berry saltbush (Chenopodium hastatum) (sense 2) in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

A variant of salep (“starch or jelly made from orchid plants”), originally a key ingredient in the drink.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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saloop (usually uncountable, plural saloops)

  1. (dated) An aromatic drink originally prepared from salep and later from sassafras bark with other ingredients such as milk and sugar added, which was once popular in London, England.
    • [1775], F[rancis] Spilsbury, “Sect. VII. On Decoctions and Diet Drinks.”, in A Treatise on the Method of Curing the Gout, Scurvy, Leprosy, Elephantiasis, Evil, and Other Cutaneous Eruptions. Shewing the Rise and Progress of Those Diseases, and by what Medicines They may be Cured. Illustrated by Many Cases Extracted from the Writings of the Most Eminent Men of the Faculty, and the Author’s Own Observations. The Whole Interspersed with a Variety of Efficacious Receipts, Collected, and Now Published for the Good of the Public, 3rd edition, London: Sold by Mr. Wilkie, bookseller, in St. Paul's Church-yard [et al.], →OCLC, page 147:
      Saſſafras is a warm ingredent, and where it is not made too ſtrong, ſo as to make the head ach, is a very good ſubstitute for breakfaſt, and as ſuch I recommend it to thoſe who do not care to be at the trouble to make any other drinks; this is the chief ingredient of what is called ſaloup, and ſold about the ſtreets in the morning.
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Of the Street-sellers of Eatables and Drinkables”, in London Labour and the London Poor; a Cyclopædia of the Condition and Earnings of Those that Will Work, Those that Can Not Work, and Those that Will Not Work, volume I (The London Street-folk), book the first, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 82 Cliff Street, →OCLC, page 160, column 1:
      The little sweep would have his saloop smoking hot—and there was the common appliance of a charcoal grate—regaling himself with the savory steam until the mess was cool enough for him to swallow; […] his white teeth the while gleaming from his sooty visage as he gleefully licked his lips at the warm and oily breakfast.
    • 1854, Mrs. R[obert] Lee (formerly Mrs. T[homas] E[dward] Bowdich) [i.e., Sarah Bowdich Lee], “Order Lauraceæ. The Cinnamon Tribe.”, in Trees, Plants, and Flowers: Their Beauties, Uses, and Influences, London: Grand and Griffith (successors to Newbery and Harris), corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, →OCLC, pages 260–261:
      Sassafras officinale, the Laurus sassafras, was introduced into Europe through France, and both wood and bark supply a volatile oil. […] The infusion of it was formerly much sold about the streets of London, at daybreak, modified with milk and sugar, under the name of Saloop, and chiefly made from this wood, though the true Saloop or Salep is an Orchis.
    • 1868, “Progress of Cookery and Housewifery”, in John Timbs, editor, Lady Bountiful’s Legacy to Her Family and Friends. A Book of Practical Instructions & Duties, Counsels & Experiences, Anecdotes, Hints, & Recipes, in Housekeeping & Domestic Management. Calculated to Increase the Comforts of House and Home, London: Griffith and Farran, (successors to Newbery and Harris,) corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, →OCLC, pages 56–57:
      Saloop was originally made from salop, the root of Orchis mascula, a common plant of our meadows, the tubers of which being cleaned and peeled, were lightly browned in the oven. […] Saloop is stated to contain the largest proportion of nutritious matter in the smallest space; and when boiled it was much used in this country before the introduction of tea and coffee, and their greatly reduced prices. The pretended saloop, sold at stalls in the streets within memory, was a decoction of sassafras.
    • 2003, Antony Clayton, London’s Coffee Houses: A Stimulating Story, London: Historical Publications, →ISBN, page 31, column 1:
      As an alternative to coffee – in periods such as the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it became expensive – a patron might request saloop.
    • 2004, Tim Fulford, Debbie Lee, Peter J. Kitson, “Britain’s Little Black Boys and the Technologies of Benevolence”, in Literature, Science and Exploration in the Romantic Era: Bodies of Knowledge (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism; 60), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 261:
      He [Charles Lamb] reveals some of their tastes – their likes and dislikes, their humour. And, characteristically, he does so in a digression, that turns out not to be a digression at all, about saloop, a drink made from 'the sweet wood yclept sassafras' and sold at roadside stalls throughout London.
    • 2014 April 5, “Quite interesting: A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week; QI orchids you not”, in The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), page W22:
      The tubers of one [orchid] species, Orchis mascula, produce a flour called salep, which was made into a drink known as "saloop" in 18th-century London, as an alternative to coffee (Charles Lamb thought it the ideal breakfast for chimney sweeps). Salep is a Turkish word with an even more precise derivation (it's from the Arabic for "fox's testicles"). Despite this, the Turks still use it to make a strange elastic ice cream, eaten with a knife and fork, which carries a pungent aftertaste compared by one commentator to the scent of "goats on a rainy day". Salep ice cream is so popular that O. mascula is now a protected species in Turkey.
  2. The berry saltbush or red berry saltbush (Chenopodium hastatum, syn. Einadia hastata and Rhagodia hastata), a small plant found in coastal and inland areas of eastern Australia.
    • 2011, G[eoffrey] M[cIver] Cunningham, W. E. Mulham, P. L. Milthorpe, J. H. Leigh, “Angiosperms (Dicots)”, in Plants of Western New South Wales, Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 278, column 1:
      SALOOP Rhagodia hastata R. Br. Chenopodiaceae / Deep-green perennial subshrub, usually about 25 cm high, with stems to 75 cm long, woody at base.
    • 2016, Eric [R.] Anderson, “Trees and Shrubs: Other Woody Plants”, in Plants of Central Queensland: Identification and Uses of Native and Introduced Species, Clayton, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 177:
      Red berry saltbush […] Other common name: saloop, berry saltbush
  3. Alternative form of salep (“starch or jelly made from orchid plants”).
    • 1800, Erasmus Darwin, “Sect. XI. Of Draining and Watering Lands.”, in Phytologia: Or The Philosophy of Agricuture and Gardening. With the Theory of Draining Morasses and with an Improved Construction of the Drill Plough, Dublin: Printed for P. Byrne, 108, Grafton-Street, →OCLC, section XI.2.4.5, page 245:
      Where finally the draining of marſhy grounds can not be effected at a reſponſible expence, ſome plants may perhaps be cultivated with profit to the cultivator; as in ſome ſituations the feſtica fluitans, floating feſcue, callitriche, ſtar-graſs; or in others the orchis for the purpoſe of making ſaloop by drying the peeled roots in an oven.
    • 1835 June 27, “Dr. Gölis’s Treatment of the Diseases of Children. Diseases of the Abdomen.”, in Michael Ryan, editor, The London Medical and Surgical Journal; Exhibiting a View of the Improvements and Discoveries in the Various Branches of Medical Science, volume VII, number 178, London: Published by G. Henderson, 2, Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, →OCLC, page 703:
      In simple ordinary diarrhœa, a mixture is prescribed, consisting of two ounces of a decoction of mallow and saloop, and two drops of Sydenham's laudanum.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ From Thomas Rowlandson (1820) Rowlandson’s Characteristic Sketches of the Lower Orders, Intended as a Companion to the New Picture of London: Consisting of Fifty-four Plates, Neatly Coloured, London: Printed for Samuel Leigh, →OCLC.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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