Rosalind
Deeply Rooted
OK, I have officially gone insane, per DH. I decided I would like to make my own soda, the old-fashioned fermented kind. We have any number of random plastic bottles with screw caps, plenty of the Grolsch-type beer bottles, and it turns out to be very easy, just like making bread. Last night I made cream soda with half brown sugar in the recipe and vanilla extract.
Recipe for soda:
Mix 1 c. sugar of choice (must be either sugar or honey, the artificial stuff doesn't ferment) with 1/4 tsp. regular bread yeast in a washed-out soda bottle with screw top.
Add flavoring of choice (fresh grated ginger, citrus, extract-type flavorings, fresh fruit mash)
Fill to 1-2" of the top with filtered water, leave a little headspace
Put cap on tight
Let sit 24 hours (48 if it's chilly in the house) until the side of the plastic bottle feels hard, no longer squishable
Open very carefully in sink in case of exploding soda, then filter into bottles through a couple layers of cheesecloth. Enough yeast to re-fizzify the soda will make it through the cheesecloth, but the major chunks of stuff will catch in the cloth.
Refrigerate. Very important, refrigerate post-bottling or it will explode.
Of course, I would love to make my own root beer. And, glory be, sarsaparilla apparently grows in shade! Hooray hooray, something that grows in the shady part of the garden! Now, where can I get some plants? I checked Richter's, Forest Farm and Googled, and nada--plenty of places that have extract, but everything else says "grows wild in North America." It does? Really? I mean, I'll go hiking and keep a sharp eye out, but I think I'd remember stepping on something that smelled like soda pop. Does it grow in Massachusetts? Anyone know?
Recipe for soda:
Mix 1 c. sugar of choice (must be either sugar or honey, the artificial stuff doesn't ferment) with 1/4 tsp. regular bread yeast in a washed-out soda bottle with screw top.
Add flavoring of choice (fresh grated ginger, citrus, extract-type flavorings, fresh fruit mash)
Fill to 1-2" of the top with filtered water, leave a little headspace
Put cap on tight
Let sit 24 hours (48 if it's chilly in the house) until the side of the plastic bottle feels hard, no longer squishable
Open very carefully in sink in case of exploding soda, then filter into bottles through a couple layers of cheesecloth. Enough yeast to re-fizzify the soda will make it through the cheesecloth, but the major chunks of stuff will catch in the cloth.
Refrigerate. Very important, refrigerate post-bottling or it will explode.
Of course, I would love to make my own root beer. And, glory be, sarsaparilla apparently grows in shade! Hooray hooray, something that grows in the shady part of the garden! Now, where can I get some plants? I checked Richter's, Forest Farm and Googled, and nada--plenty of places that have extract, but everything else says "grows wild in North America." It does? Really? I mean, I'll go hiking and keep a sharp eye out, but I think I'd remember stepping on something that smelled like soda pop. Does it grow in Massachusetts? Anyone know?