Homemade soda anyone?

We make Limonade, which is carbonated water with fresh lemon juice and simple syrup (equal part heated sugar and water). It is nice because it tastes so refreshing and you can control the amount of sugar. I have tried with lime and orange and they are good, too. I also make Italien sodas with carbonated water and flavored sugar syrup (like the ones at the coffee shop- Monin or Dulce) and then add a bit of half and half...Yum.

I agree about the obesity and corn syrup. I am not able to eat it because of an allergy and I have had problems with being underweight in the past because it elimated all of the really junkie food from my diet.

Check your local farmers market for jam. Homemade versions taste so much better, but if you are shopping in conventional grocery store, Polena (sp?) makes a fruit juice sweetened version. Cascadian Farm has a nice selection of organic sugar sweetened jams, too.

A friend of mine does this and she gave me some quick, easy recipes for kefir sodas:

KEFIR Cream Soda:
1/2 C rapdura, sucanat or maple sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
slices of lemon, lime, or orange

KEFIR Ginger Ale:
4 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh ginger
juice of 4 limes
1/2 C rapadura, sucanat, or maple sugar

KEFIR Fruit soda:
2 C juice
1/4 C rapadura, sucanat or maple sugar

It says you can use either water kefir grains or kefir paowder...either 3/4 C of grains or 1 packet of powder for 2 quarts of soda w/the ingredients above. Use glass containers for storage, cover tightly and leave at room temp for 48 hours then strain liquid thru a non-metallic strainer. Store in the original glass container. There is a warning to NOT store soda in decorative vinegar bottles that have wired-held stoppers b/c they have a tendency to explode. YIKES! HTH!

Quote:
It's Polaner -- they make the "All Fruit" jams. Our local grocery has a store brand of it, too.

I have to offer a respectful caveat about the farmers' market jams, though -- we have bought jam from our market, from the little family-farm stands, thinking it was homemade and wholesome. Not so. When we got the jam home and looked at the label closely, not only was it made with HFCS and other additives, but it was also not made by that farm, or by any small business. It was made by a big company and just labeled to look "homemade" and then distributed by smaller farms/companies : So the lesson is, always read the labels, no matter where you're buying from, and don't get sucked into the small-farm/small-business/homemade = wholesome/all natural trap, like we did.

HTH!
~Nick