Vanilla Soda

As I’ve already confessed, I love pop. I know that the kinds that I drink the most, really aren’t the best for me. My favourite is the Dry brand of soda, but you can only get it in larger cities, with the closest location 2 hours away.

So today, I had two missions. To not drink my regular diet pop (I know, so bad!), and to make my own pop. I have a Soda Stream, so I should be using it more regularly anyways.

This is not as good as the Dry Vanilla soda, but it’s homemade, doesn’t cost me much, and I don’t have to drive hours to get it. Plus, you can control the sweetness in this recipe.

MAKES APPROXIMATELY 3 CUPS

INGREDIENTS
– 1 cup water
– 1 cup organic cane sugar
– 2 vanilla beans
– 1/4 teaspoon citric acid powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine the water and sugar into a pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes.
2. While it is boiling, scrape out the inside of the vanilla bean pods.
3. After the 3 minutes, add in the vanilla and citric acid powder and lower the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let fully cool.
5. Drain the liquid using cheesecloth (I used the bag I use for making nut milk), to remove any pieces of vanilla.
6. Store in fridge and add the desired amount of syrup to cool, carbonated water.

Tips:

• To infuse more vanilla flavour into the liquid, let the vanilla sit in the cooled liquid for several hours before you drain the liquid.
• Do not add in the syrup to the water before carbonating, if using a carbonation machine. You will make a mess!
• The citric acid helps balance the sugar in the drink.  It is optional, but I think it gives it a great flavour.