This recipe came about because my kids wanted to buy a watermelon. The trouble is, no one in our house really gobbles up watermelon. Now, I've always thought, "If watermelons are so juicy, why don't they sell watermelon juice?" So I juiced the watermelon, and now I know why no one juices watermelons. The juice really isn't all that great. So I decided to make it into a soda.
I juiced not quite half a watermelon and came up with about 3 pints of juice. As you can see, I still have half a watermelon left which I may juice later if no one eats it. By juicing I mean mashing it up and pressing it through a coffee filter, jelly bag, or other clean filter.
So, you'll need:
2 L Club Soda well chilled
1 c sugar
2.5 c watermelon juice
0.5 c lemon juice
Combine the sugar and juices in a saucepan and let it come to a gentle boil on med heat for about 5 min. This does change the flavor profile of the watermelon juice a little, but I wanted to be sure to kill any wild yeasts. This will make a very thin syrup, that you can dilute in the club soda at about 25-30%, meaning 3-4ozs. per 12oz. bottle.
You could try adding maybe a tablespoon or 2 of Grenadine for an extra hit?
ReplyDeleteI have a watermelon recipe that has Grenadine in it. Although the Recipe i have is not cooked so unfortunately it doesn't last very long and has an aftertaste (not a bad one)
5 cups Watermelon (Roughly 2 cups of juice when juiced)
3 TBSP Fine sugar
2 TBSP Grenadine
1 1/2 TBS Lime Juice
Pinch of Salt
Basically mix all together until dissolved. Then about 1/2 cup syrup to 1/2 cup Soda water.
So if you wanted to mix the two ideas together till you get something that tastes great.
I think i will be doing that this weekend =)
Liam
Thank you for the helpful feedback. The grenadine is a great idea! When I get the chance to try it, probably in the summer when I can buy some good local watermelons, I'll post the results.
DeleteFunnily enough I was reading your history and at the moment I run a shop in Adelaide, Australia and we are currently expanding to opening a Soda Bar, in which we will have flavoured ice creams and Milkshakes as well as many different varieties of Soda! (And you studying Food science and myself being a qualified Chef haha) Also no alcohol being served as i personally don't drink, for no religious reasons i just chose not to.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I'm making many different syrups straight from scratch but just carbonating with Soda Stream, which is all good and well, but for some it doesn't seem to have to same fizz when you take a mouthful like it does when you take a mouthful of Coke or other commercial Sodas.
How do you carbonate your water? and can you give me any good tips?
Thanks again
Liam
I carbonate my water in pre-mix tanks, also called ball lock or cornelius kegs. It's teh same principle as the soda stream, just larger scale.
DeleteSome syrups will lose carbonation due to what's in them. To keep good carbonation, make sure your water is ice cold, when you add syrup, do it slowly, with as little agitation as possible(Once it's sealed, then you can agitate as much as you want.), Syrup sugar level and pH are also minor factors, if you keep your syrups more acidic, then you probably won't lose as much carbonation. And the more sugar that needs to dissolve into your carbonated water, the more likely it's going to push some of that CO2 out of solution.
I hope that helps.
Just finished making my syrup with the suggestion of salt and grenadine. I needed something to do with the extra giant melon I got from the CoOp. I will let you know how it turns out with the water from my Soda Stream.
ReplyDeletePlease do, Jessica. It may be too late, but my friend Jaime has a great idea for something to do with extra watermelon also:
Deletehttp://www.our-everyday-art.com/2012/07/healthy-summer-treat-watermelon-icee.html