My oldest son took my unused beer brewing kit from the basement a few years ago and has been doing some good brews. (He did have one explode a few months ago in his girlfriend’s new townhouse closet!)
I was reading an article online about brewing your own soda. I’m actually not a soda fan any more – empty calories, acid burn, tooth decay and all that – but home-brewed soda sounds appealing. Homemade soda may not be a health tonic, but ginger, anise, hops, licorice root and the yeast found in natural sodas (a great source of B-complex vitamins) and the lower sugar content aren’t bad things. (Most commercial soda has about 7 to 9 teaspoons of sugar per 12 ounces and few home brewers use that much.) Just as beer brewers are experimenting with fruits (Hurray for the Belgians!), soda brewers are bottling up Cherry Ginger, Peach Fizz, Maple Rhubarb, Mulberry Root Beer and others.
People have been brewing their own beverages from local plants for generations. Think of those roots that give “root” beer and “ginger” ale their names. Home-brewers tend to use the same soda ingredients as the old-fashioned recipes, so the sodas usually don’t have the artificial feel of modern soft drinks.
And there has been a steady increase in soda microbrews (like losttrailsoda.com and even the ice cream folks at emackandbolios.com).
The only dangerous old-fashioned brew I found online is sassafras. I recall loving that as a kid and my brewmeister son still has a sassafras soda bottle that he saved from his cowboy days. But in 1960, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned sassafras from food products because of the suspected carcinogenic properties of safrole. That is contained in in small amounts in sassafras, basil, nutmeg and black pepper. Those famous lab rats given large doses of safrole developed tumors, so the FDA restricts the sale of sassafras. Commercial root beer extract is now made with imitation sassafras (sassafras root extract with the safrole removed).
Plenty of websites offer home brewing kits and supplies
Here’s a recipe that sounds good to me.
Honey Ginger Ale
1 gallon water
1 cup honey
2 lemons
1 cup loosely packed hops flowers (optional)
2 pieces of ginger, thumb-sized
1/2 teaspoon ale or champagne yeastCombine water, honey and hops in a stockpot. Add the juice from the two lemons and bring to a boil. Grate ginger and add to the pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then add the yeast. Let the soda stand at room temperature for 24 hours, then use a funnel and strainer to pour the soda into bottles. Leave 1 to 2 inches of
empty space at the top of the bottle and attach the bottle caps. Write the date on the bottles and store them in a warm, draftfree place, ideally at room temperature, for an additional 24 hours. Then refrigerate. For best results, leave the bottles in the refrigerator an additional day or two before drinking. Makes 1 gallon.
For more, see http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2004-12-01/Brew-Soda-at-Home.aspx
