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.