Making homemade soda pop is probably one of the most exciting things I could do with my kids on the 4th of July (second only to the fireworks themselves). My littles love to cook with me and, of course, they love anything sweet so this one may just have to become a family tradition.
I love that we won’t need to invest in a fancy Soda Stream machine to follow Alli’s recipe either!
The Fourth of July is just around the corner. And as we prepare our party menus, why not add your own homemade soda to the list?
We’ve been making our own soda for years. Really. My boss used to make fun of me for it. But honestly, it tastes so much better–and it’s so much better for you. Plus, it’s EASY.
So what’s not to love?
The best part about making your own soda, is that the world is literally (okay, not literally) your oyster. You can make any flavor you please, and you can make the recipe as easy, or as challenging, as you like.
We love blueberries at our house. And lemonade. So I decided to make blueberry-lemonade soda.
But you could easily choose to make cherry, vanilla, or even rhubarb soda.
First you’ll want to gather your materials/ingredients.
Materials
- soda bottles (we used clear recycled mineral water bottles)
- bandanas and twine (for decoration)
Ingredients
makes about 6 cups
- 4 cups *carbonated water
- 1 cup organic blueberry syrup (or you can make your own)
- 1 cup lemon juice
- sugar to taste (about 3 tbsp)
*For carbonated water you have some choices. You can use regular club soda from any grocery store. Or you can carbonate your own, like we do. To carbonate your own water you will need a seltzer bottle or seltzer system like SodaStream. Like I said, we make homemade sodas all the time…so we use our own seltzer bottle. But if this is a one-time recipe for you, club soda will work just fine.
In a large pitcher, mix all ingredients together…tasting along the way. If it’s too sweet, add more lemon juice. If it’s too tart, add more blueberry syrup. You can choose to add or omit the sugar (I think it’s sweet enough as is, so we left it out). Then chill and serve.
It’s truly that easy. If you want to make your own syrup, make sure to build in time to do so (about an hour). And if you want to make things even easier, you can buy pre-made blueberry lemonade (cranberry juice, grape juice, etc.) in your local grocery store.
If you like this recipe, you may also enjoy:
Happy Fourth! And happy soda making!
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Alli
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