Homemade soda!

I'm way addicted to learning to do things "all by myself", even weird things. I also admit that I have an unhealthy addiction to Diet Coke. So, in the alleged interest of self-sufficiency but really as a way to find a replacement for the evils of artificial sweetener, I've learned to make my own soda.

I started by making a culture to give the soda its fizz. I did this by putting some tap water in a very clean quart jar. To that water I added a few tablespoons of diced fresh ginger root, and a few tablespoons of sugar. Top that with cheesecloth or a paper towel to keep dust and bugs out. Then, like all cultures (think sourdough starter), I added some sugar each day and stirred it. I also added some extra ginger each day to give the sugar a little boost. After about a week, the culture was fizzing and ready.

Now, to make the soda "syrup". In my big old canning pot (one of those speckled blue pots), I put about a half gallon of water, a 32 ounce bag of frozen strawberries (you can use fresh as well), and about 2 cups of sugar. I brought all of this to a boil then turned the heat down and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. If you're making this yourself, just keep tasting the liquid until you have a very strong fruit taste. Here's a photo of the fruit "cooking". My pot isn't dirty, honest - I dunno why it looks that way. Reflections, I guess.



After the fruit has cooked, I pour it (fruit, water and all) into a gallon jar and then let it cool. Be careful pouring hot liquid into a glass jar - do it in the sink and try putting a knife in the jar to help absorb the heat so that the glass doesn't explode. I let this fruit mixture cool until it's room temperature. It takes a while.

After the fruit mixture is cool, I added about a cup of the culture made previously. (Leftover culture can be refrigerated, or just keep it going by adding more water, and then a couple teaspoons of sugar and ginger and a stir each day.

After I put the culture in the jar and stir well, I top it with a paper towel secured with a pony tail holder. (I'm the master of "make do"!) Here's the fruit and culture sitting together getting jiggy with their bad selves. The blue tape on the jar is for writing the date on so that I know when it's finished. This I leave on the counter for any where from 3 days to a week, depending on how sweet I want the soda. Shorter times for a sweeter soda.



Once I'm satisfied with the sweetness and the fizziness, it's time to bottle it up. After straining the liquid through a cheesecloth, I poured it into old Grolsch bottles that a friend of my Dad's gave to me. I leave the bottled soda out overnight, then pop the tops in the morning to get rid of excess carbonation, then into the refrigerator they go. The soda is ready to drink at this point, but it tastes better cold.



The soda really tastes great and it's all natural. Plus, the culture gives it a good probiotic which everyone needs and hardly anyone gets enough of. Any kind of fruit can be used for soda. This week I'm doing a grape soda with some grape juice I canned this summer from our concord grape vines. It oughtta be incredible!

Isn't this a pretty, totally guilt-free soda? Happy drinking!