How to Make Homemade Soda With Stevia
Most commercial sodas are filled with sugar, artificial ingredients and chemicals. These ingredients can cause terrible consequences on the soda drinker's body. A 2009 Harvard School of Public Health study linked soda consumption with obesity in adults. Researchers also found women who drank soft drinks daily had twice the risk of diabetes compared to those who drank little or no soda.
Luckily, avoiding commercial soda doesn't mean you have to give up soda for good. Homemade soda is not only much more nutritious than the commercially bought product, it is also fun and easy to make. Making your own soda will allow you to substitute stevia for sugar and experiment with many different exciting recipes.
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Things You'll Need
- Boiling Pot
- Ginger
- Water
- Mason Jar
- Plastic Liter Bottles
- Gallon Jar
- Cheese cloth
Instructions
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Make your own soda culture starter. This culture can be stored and used to make many different types of sodas. Start by adding 1 tablespoon of grated or chopped ginger and 2 teaspoons of sugar to a quarter sized mason jar. The jar should be three fourths of the way full with de-chlorinated water. It is important to use real sugar, honey or molasses at this point, instead of stevia, since the culture needs the natural sugar to feed the bacteria. Don't worry about using real sugar here, since the bacteria will eat it up once the culture is complete.
Cover the jar with a cheese cloth and allow it to sit out for 24 hours. Each day , add 2 teaspoons of ginger, 2 teaspoons of sugar and stir well two to three times daily.
After about a week, the culture should become bubbly with a pleasant smell. This indicates it is ready to be used for soda making.
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Make your syrup. This is the most exciting part of homemade soda making, deciding what type of soda you want to make. Two classics are root beer and ginger ale, but the options are endless.
To make a root beer syrup mix 2 tablespoons sassafras, 2 teaspoons of sarasparilla, burdock, and licorice root in a gallon of filtered water.
Put mixture in a large pot and bring to a boil. Allow pot to simmer for around 20 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup of stevia and allow to sit for 4 hours. Strain mixture and place in refrigerator until you are ready to make your soda.
For ginger ale, follow the same process, but replace root beer herbs with ginger.
Bring the water to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.
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Combine soda culture starter with syrup.
Pour 1 cup of your soda culture into a gallon jar, add enough home made syrups to fill the jar 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full (the more syrup added, the stronger the flavor). Top off with filtered water and cover lightly with cheesecloth.
The jar should sit out for 3 -- 7 days and be stirred 2 or 3 times daily. The less time it sits, the sweeter the final soda will be.
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Bottle your soda. Pour the soda into a plastic 2 liter bottles, cap tightly, and let it sit out for another 3 -- 7 days.
Occasionally check for carbonation by squeezing the bottles. If the bottles get too firm, slowly open to release the pressure. When soda reaches the degree of carbonation you desire, refrigerate. This will slow the carbonation process.
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