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FD/Make your own soft drinks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elec Telegraph

ISSUE 1882 Thursday 20 July 2000

The real thing

To avoid the artificial flavours in shop-bought soft drinks, Robert Joseph makes his own

SOFT drinks have deteriorated alarmingly over the past decade or so. Read the list of ingredients on most mixers and squashes and you'll find that even the ones that make no claims to be low in calories are now routinely made with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (or NutraSweet as it is known commercially), as well as colourings galore.

My dislike of the recognisably metallic flavour of NutraSweet presumably sets me in a small minority of my fellow consumers. After all, I know plenty of people with otherwise highly sensitive palates who voluntarily opt for Diet Coke, even when they are pigging out on burgers and fries. Some products with artificial flavours taste rather good, but too often they taste awful.

Which brings me to the subject of do-it-yourself soft drinks, made from ingredients you have chosen and bought, rather than ones flavour technologists have pulled from their chemistry sets.The classic home-made soft drink is lemonade. One of the keys to making this, and lots of other fruit concoctions, lies in having good, light sugar syrup.

To make this, dissolve 250g (9oz) caster or granulated sugar in 600ml (1 pint [UK pints are 20 ozs]) water and bring it to the boil for a minute without stirring. When it is cool combine it with 3 litres (5 pints [UK pints are 20 ozs]) of water and the juice and grated or finely chopped rind of eight lemons. Leave to macerate for at least two hours (some people prefer a whole night) before straining through muslin; serve chilled.

The great advantage of the do-it-yourself approach is that you can decide just how sweet or tangy you want your lemonade to be. An unusual French variation involves boiling three dried figs in 750ml (1-1/2 pints[UK pints are 20 ozs]) water for 15 minutes, before adding the juice and chopped skin of a lemon and a dessertspoonful [one US tablespoon will do] of honey.

Alternatively, you could try a recipe for barley water offered by Mrs CF Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley in their delightfully named, but sadly out-of-print, The Gentle Art of Cookery (1925). Rinse three tablespoonfuls of pearl barley in several changes of cold water before simmering for ten minutes in 1.25 litres (2 pints [total 40 fl ozs]) of water. Strain and add the juice of a couple of lemons and as much sugar as you think necessary.

Lemons are an essential ingredient, too, in Kala Primlani's recipe for ginger ale in Indian Cooking with Useful Hints on Good Housekeeping (1975), also, alas, out of print. Extract the juice from 12-16 lemons. Grind 25g (1oz) fresh ginger in a mortar. Add a teaspoonful of peppercorns to the ginger paste and place in a saucepan with 1 litre (1-3/4 pints [yup, 20-oz pints]) of water. Simmer for three minutes, strain through a fine sieve and reserve the liquid and the ginger paste. Repeat the process, using a litre of fresh water and the original ginger-and-peppercorn mix. Combine the ginger infusions and add the lemon juice. Next dissolve 600g (1-1/4lb) sugar in 500ml (18fl oz) of water over a low flame; allow to cool before straining the syrup into the ginger and lemon mixture.

Finally, you could make yourself a lemon syrup to serve diluted with water or soda. Take the finely grated rind of six lemons. Add 2 litres (3-1/2 pints [20-oz pints]) of water and boil for 15 minutes. Strain, and pour back into the rinsed pan with 1.5kg (3lb 6oz) sugar. Simmer vigorously for ten to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the juice of the lemons. Leave to cool and then bottle. The last lot I made survived for several weeks in the fridge and refreshed me every time I drank some - which is a lot more than I can say for most sweetener-laden pop.

SAR01 Roamer posts: 273 (11/2/00 11:42:12 pm) 209.143.35.112 Reply | Edit | Del

Re: FD/Make your own soft drinks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I make almost all of my own soft drinks...I make teas from my differet mints, and I make my own lemon drink, orange drink, and in season, fruit drinks. Everyone raves about my teas.....there are full bodied and good for you, too!

-- Anonymous, March 14, 2001