Pinterest Recipe Challenge: Blue Bubblegum Soda

I need to make a confession. I'm a dude, and I use Pinterest.

In my defense, the place is getting a lot more dude friendly, so I know I'm not the only male using the site. When it first came out, I didn't understand what all the rage was about, and when it was referred to as a social media site, I was confused. At first glance I couldn't see that it was anything more than a bookmarking site and I thought it was appalling that our social communication had digressed from well scripted eloquent letters to sloppy, hasty emails, to the limited canvas of SMS messages and Twitter to the "let me show you because it's easier to explain it if I take a picture" of instagram, to being so lazy that we have to steal someone else's picture and say "This!" In order to make our point. Yeah, we can't even take our own pictures, now? Wow.

But I've come to see it as what it really is. A collection of things we wish we could do that someone else with a nicer camera has already done.

I have a board that I've chalked up as "recipe challenge" with the express purpose of attempting to make the sodas that others with nicer cameras have already made to see how they stack up. First up is kind of two fold. This is a recipe from Cherry Tea Cakes for blue bubble gum soda.

Blue bubble gum soda from Cherry Tea Cakes, clearly taken with a better camera.

Now, it's not specifically stated, but with a name like blue bubble gum soda, why would you not mention Jones? Bubble gum in my childhood was usually pink, so 'fess up. Tell it like it is. You're trying to do a Jones knock-off.

Basically the recipe is equal parts (by volume) gumballs and water, boiled to extract the flavor and sugar, then mixed with carbonated water to taste. Make sure you read the caveat about not letting the gum stick to the pan, it's important.

One thing that is interesting about this recipe is that at first glance it may seem like it's a natural thing; not using some artificial extract, but pulling the flavor straight from the source. But really? Where do the gumballs get it? Think about that for a minute. Why not just get a bubble gum flavor and some food coloring? It's the same thing, and without the mess. But oh well, every now and again we need to do things the hard way. I have a bubble gum flavor in my book using fruits and juices that mostly avoids extracts, if you want something more natural.

So here's the two fold part: how does the recipe turn out, and how does it compare to Jones? Here's my experience.

My attempt at blue bubble gum soda, taking on the competition.

The flavor is a bit flat. It pulls out enough from the gum without much problem, but the sweetness is lacking a bit. If I were a fan of bubble gum, and I'm not, and I were going to make this again I would definitely add some more sugar. Adding 1/4 cup of sugar per cup of gum seemed to do the trick, other than that, you'll probably subconsciously attempt to blow bubbles with this, because it tastes like bubble gum.

How does it compare with Jones? Jones has a bit more fruity flavor from the citric acid which makes it a more pleasant drink than I remember. In a taste test, I'd pick Jones every time. Which is not to say that you can't add in some citric acid to the homemade, that's easy enough, even if just in the form of lemon juice, it would perk it up.

So the takeaway? If you want to make your own, get your hands on some bubble gum flavor from somewhere like LorAnne's and skip the gooey mess. If you want something natural, use fruits. Or if you want a Jones, buy a Jones.

Recipe 34 - Peanut Butter Soda

Continuing on with the celebration of my book's release, I bring you a second recipe this week. Considering that new recipes have been a bit sparse lately, I think you, the reader, deserve it as the least I can do.

Anyone who's familiar with Rocket Fizz will know that this isn't a novel idea. I'm pretty sure I've seen (but never tasted) both a peanut butter soda and a pb&j soda from them, though the reviews weren't all that great. If I remember right, the complaints stemmed from the fact that they tried to give theirs some sort of creamy, thick mouthfeel. I think this should be something that you don't need to drink with a spoon, so I went the powdered peanut butter path. I've heard of homebrewers using this for their peanut butter porters because it has a low oil content and mixed well with water.

Basically it's ground nuts that most of the oil has been pressed out of, so if this gives you the impression that you're mixing up some artificial "just add water" stuff, then you are gravely mistaken. This is all natural "just add water" stuff. And if you had a blender, and an efficient way to press 85% of the oil out, you could probably make your own.

Anyway, when I saw this on the shelf at the local Wal-Mart and discovered that I wouldn't have to order from Amazon, I knew that peanut butter soda was in my future.

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter,6.

2 cups water

1 gallon carbonated water

Bring the water to a boil and add the peanut butter powder and remove from heat. Stir and allow to cool. Strain out the larger peanut granules using a fine mesh strainer. Add the sugar and heat to dissolve. Mix the resulting syrup with 1 gal carbonated water or to taste.

It worked out well, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too oily or gritty. There's enough fine powder to get a nice smooth syrup with minimal filtering. It could use some jelly flavor, or possibly an addition of chocolate flavor. 

Now, there are likely easier ways to do something similar. Watkins makes an artificial peanut flavor extract which would probably get you the same effect. But that's kind of cheating, unless you happen to be allergic to peanuts, and then it's probably a good idea.

Book Release Party: Lemon Basil Soda

So today is the official release for my book, Making Soda at Home. I should probably be celebrating with friends and family, making all kinds of beverages and hors d'oeuvres to celebrate the occasion.

But I'm not. I'm spending my week in Kansas learning about baking breads for my "real job".

I thought about going to the local Barnes and Noble to see if they have it in stock yet, but apparently Manhattan, KS doesn't have one. Being a college town, they seem to only have need of campus bookstores filled with textbooks, and used book stores. Oh well. I guess I'll celebrate properly some other time. For now, I'll make myself a soda, and share it with the internet. Lucky you, internet. Enjoy!:

I keep seeing a lot of drink recipes with basil lately. I first came across this combo in Andrea Lynn's Artisan Soda Workshop. At first it disturbed me. Having spent some significant time in Italy, experience tells me that the only liquid that should have basil flavor in it is olive oil. I don't think an olive oil soda would work out so well. However, Lynn did an excellent job of pairing basil with pineapple, and I enjoyed that.

So, with its prevalence and pairing with numerous fruits, I'll give my own a shot. I figured citrus was a safe place to start and chose lemon as basil's dance partner for this party.

1 cup sugar
2 chips water
6 large fresh basil leaves, plus one our two more for garnish. (My garnish looks like canned spinach because it accidentally got frozen)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2-4 liters carbonated water, to taste

Heat the water to boiling and add the basil to steep. After about 20 min, remove the leaves and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve. After it has cooled somewhat, add the lemon juice. To this syrup, add 2 to 4 liters of carbonated water to taste.

Frequent visitors will notice that this recipe is quite different from what I normally post. It was designed to be less intense in both sweetness and flavor than some of my usual recipes. Why? Because it's summer, and the flavors lend themselves well to subtlety for a more refreshing, cooling, thirst quenching beverage closer to an infused sparkling water than a soda. I was quite surprised that the basil was a nice addition to citrus. In fact I was pleased enough with the flavor that it almost didn't need citrus at all, it would drink well with just the basil straight up.