From the Kitchen Muse: DIY Un-Soda

   So, it's a ghastly hot day, you've been out in the broiling sun forever, and there would be nothing so much like heaven on earth as a tall, cold, carbonated, iced something. Instead of popping the top on a chilled high-sugar ( or worse - artificially sweetened) canned soda, you can easily mix up a brew of your own, following this simple formula. I mean, doesn't that iced glass of blueberry soda to the right make you want to say, "I'll have what she's having?"

  There's just a little bit of prep, and a couple of things to have on hand...

• fruited simple syrup (recipe follows)
• club soda or seltzer water
• ice in a tall glass

  To make a fruited simple syrup, combine 3/4 cup of sugar with 3/4 cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let the syrup boil for one minute, then remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Combine in a blender with 1-2 pounds of fresh or frozen fruit and blend well. If you're using a heavily seeded fruit like kiwi or strawberries, next, you'll want to strain the syrup through a sieve. Decant the mix into a glass jar and stash in the fridge. I'm not sure how long it will keep...it's never around long enough to go bad!

  To mix up a fresh fruit soda that's SO much better for you than that canned stuff, fill your favorite 16 oz. glass with ice, add 1-3 tablespoons of syrup (depending on the fruit...), then fill the glass with seltzer. Wah-lah! Compared to a can of soda, which may contain the equivalent of, like, 1/2 cup to 2 cups of sugar, you're only getting, say, one to one and a half tablespoons (depending) per serving.  And why settle for "natural fruit flavoring" when you can have the real thing? Really? Especially when it's way yummier!

  Some fruity suggestions:

• peaches with lemon juice
• ginger/lemon - combine simple syrup with the juice of 4 lemons and 1 teaspoon  powdered ginger; use only about a tablespoon of syrup - it's potent! use with club soda.
  
• strawberries with lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• strawberry/kiwi
• mango/lime
  
• pineapple with banana

 The possibilities are mind-boggling!

 Thanks for playing in Spike's kitchen! Come again soon!

 

Comments

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnh6YggnKxbdhlM_gyGCalfv-WY7V2B-3M]

This looks great, Duchess! I am going to try this. I have linked this to a post on my Flamboyant Gourmets blog and I think I will post your blog on my sidebar.

[sharon]

these beverages are the BEST princess! i know you and the kids will love them. enjoy! thanks for the link. omg! 11 hits this morning, including several from the flambos! let us know how y'all like the "un-soda," and please share any fun fruit combos you come up with, ya hear?