Orange Julius, for those of you that didn’t visit giant North American shopping malls in the 1970s, is a chain of stands selling their namesake orange and cream drink that’s been around since it started as a single stall in Los Angeles circa 1926. Not really milkshakes, not really fruit ‘smoothies’, they’re… Orange Julius. As the company’s long-time devil mascot often proclaimed “A Devilishly Good Drink”. If you were a kid roaming the temples of consumerism during the disco era, you walked around with the biggest cup of the stuff you could carry on hot summer days. Especially if you had peddled your bike there in the heat. The only sound louder than the ‘straw-at-the-bottom-of-the-cup’ noises was the chatter of the newly-released Atari 2600 game console they had on display at Sears where the queue of nerds wanting to play a round of pong stretched back to the furniture department.
On similarly hot summer days forty years later I still make the same simple DIY recipe that leaked out at the peak of their popularity. These days there are literally hundreds of personal variations on the theme but I skip egg whites which were part of the original retail version. Not because I have anything against frothy egg whites if they’re properly pasteurized but rather because I now have the power of the super blender to accomplish that frothing mechanically. If your blender isn’t up to this ice crushing task, you’ll know it pretty quick because the finished drink will be riddled with tiny icebergs – not a pleasant effect at all. Buy a better blender to make it truly smooth or get yourself to the mall. Orange Julius is still in business I hear but now they’re tied up with Dairy Queen and all manner of newfangled fruit blends and whacky hipster drinks*. I prefer to stick with the classic. And I remember they made good corn dogs too but I probably went there more because of the cute redheaded (orange-headed) teenager they had working the counter.
* For the record, I’ve added various boozes to this from time to time for parties with decent results but dairy and acidic orange doesn’t always hold up to lots of alcohol like say, a margarita would. A shot or two at most of rum or orange liqueur have been tested but anything that strikes your fancy will probably work if you use a gentle hand.
I just filled a thermos to the top with this creamy orange goodness for a trip to the farm midday with a very long straw. Should cool things nicely since the clouds have cleared today and the sun is baking my herb garden.
Egg-less Orange Creamsicle Cooler
Note: This probably won’t end well in a cheap blender without enough power
150 ml (~ 2/3 cup) frozen orange juice concentrate*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 tablespoons sugar (adjust to taste and according to your concentrate)
2 cups milk, whole fat (3.5%) preferred
2 cups ice
* If oranges are sweet and in season, you can peel three (first) and freeze them for an hour or two to use instead. Don’t leave them in much longer than that because they’ll ‘wilt’ in the cold. Reduce the ice to 1 cup (or less) and know you might need to increase the sugar depending on ripeness of the fruit. You’ll have to fiddle with it until you get it where you want because I don’t know your oranges.
Yield: Drinks for two normal people or one hot and thirsty gardener, multiply the recipe as needed.
Blend all but the ice for thirty seconds on high power. Add the ice and blend until smooth and frothy. Serve with a fat straw before it melts and remember trips to 1970s malls on Saturday mornings. Have a corn dog and play some Atari 2600 while you’re at it too.
