Homemade Soda Syrup

Summer and soda (or pop, or Coke, or soda-pop, or whatever the heck you want to call it) go hand-in-hand. But there can be so many chemicals and sugars in ordinary soda,  so we made these homemade soda syrups. Now, you can simply add a bit of carbonated water and have your own chemical-free and gourmet sodas. (Although Izze is growing in popularity.  Did you know they’re 70% juice?!)

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And this recipe needs to be shared.  Homemade soda syrups for everyone!!!

Unless, of course, you don’t think it’s worth it.  And would rather take the time this would take to do something else.  Maybe get a manicure?  Or fix your car?  Or sit in front of the TV watching crap?  No judgment here.  That’s perfectly acceptable, too! Normal soda is a lot faster than making syrups, it’s okay.

But in case you want to make your own sodas this summer, you need to know how.

There aren’t many steps, it’s easy.

There is strawberry basil, cucumber, and lemon lime soda syrup.  The basic recipe for soda syrup is followed by directions for the specific types.

These soda syrups use the same basic recipe as our popular coffee syrup recipe.  If you get the basic recipe down, an unlimited number of variations is possible! If you need more details about that recipe then what you see here in this post head HERE for a printable version of the recipe.

Homemade Soda Syrup

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Ingredients

 

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• 1 cup water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Check out our Kitchen Reference Guide for help with unfamiliar terms.

Instructions

• Mix together water and sugar in a heavy sauce pan, along with whatever you want to flavor your soda.  Put on stove on high heat. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.  IMMEDIATELY remove from heat. Note: Really, watch closely so it doesn't boil over. It boils over easily.
• Turn stove down to simmer (lowest setting), and return pan to heat. Make sure that you've waited long enough for the heat to actually go down to a lower setting, so you aren't in danger of boiling the syrup over again. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, and let cool.
• Pour into a container and save to use! Add a small amount to the bottom of a glass, and top it off with carbonated water. We used about 3 tablespoons soda syrup for our 12 oz. bottle of soda, but you can use whatever tastes right.

But plain old syrup is boring, so you probably want to know what you can add to make this even more delicious.

Strawberry-basil:  Put one full basil leaf and 2 cups frozen strawberries (fresh would work, too) in the pan at the very beginning, and keep them in through the whole process.  Use a very fine strainer to keep the strawberries and basil out of your syrup when you transfer it to a jar.

Cucumber: Slice one full cucumber and add it to the sugar-water mixture at the beginning.  Keep it in through the whole cooking process. Use a strainer to keep the cucumber slices out of the syrup when transferring it to a jar.

Lemon-Lime:  After the syrup has boiled and simmered, add 3 T each of lemon and lime juice.  Stir well, and allow to cool.

And if you are having trouble finding great bottles for the syrups, here is one of our favorites.