WHEN I WAS A KID, sodas were a special once-in-awhile treat. Now, giant bottles of carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, chemical additives, and artificial colors are ubiquitous and heavily consumed by both children and adults. As criticism has mounted over soda’s stranglehold over school vending machines, the industry has come up with alternative juice and tea drinks that are perceived to be more healthful, but they are still filled with sugar and processed ingredients. However, it’s easy and fun to make your own tasty carbonated and noncarbonated drinks. And you’ll cut out the chemicals, corn syrup, and excessive packaging. Homemade sodas naturally fermented with yeast are simple enough for kids to make. They’ll learn about fermentation and enjoy their homemade sodas as the special treat they were meant to be. Taqueria favorites like horchata (rice milk) and jamaica (hibiscus tea) are great for parties and special occasions. The ancient beverage kombucha, which has become popular commercially over the past few years, is a healthful, raw drink that is naturally fermented and so easy to make at home. Just say “No more!” to over-sweetened bottles of empty calories.
Kombucha is made by fermenting black tea and sugar with a special culture. It is slightly fizzy, a little bit tart, and very refreshing—like a slightly sour apple cider. It contains beneficial bacteria that aid digestion and boost the immune system. The sugar and caffeine are consumed by the culture, so they do not end up in the final product. Many people consider kombucha to be a powerful cure-all. In recent years, several commercial brands have emerged, usually sold in health food stores and specialty groceries. It is much less expensive to make your own. Many of the commercial brands are flavored. You can flavor yours however you like (with crushed fresh berries or other fruit, or with a bit of grated ginger). Do this after the fermentation is complete. I prefer to flavor my kombucha subtly by brewing it with a mixture of black tea and herbal tea. Elderflower tea, which I call for here, makes a light kombucha with a Sauvignon Blanc–like character, but you should experiment on your own once you master the basic method.
TIME REQUIRED: 15 minutes active; 10 to 15 days passive
YIELD: 1 gallon
6 black tea bags (I like to use organic oolong)
2 tablespoons loose elderflower tea (or other herbal flower tea), in a tea-infusing sack
1 cup sugar
1 kombucha culture (see Sources)
Wash a 1-gallon glass container (such as a sun tea jug) in hot soapy water and let it air-dry.
In a large pot, bring 1 gallon water to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, put the tea bags and tea sack in another large glass container, such as a 4-cup glass measuring pitcher.
Pour some of the boiling water over the tea bags and let them steep until the water cools completely. Add the sugar to the remaining hot water and stir to dissolve. Let the tea water and the sugar water cool to room temperature.
Put the kombucha culture in the empty glass container. Discard the tea bags and tea sack, and pour the steeped tea and the sugar water into the container with the kombucha culture. Cover the jar with a towel fastened tightly with a rubber band to keep bugs out. (Fruit flies love kombucha.) Do not use a tightly fastened lid, though, as the culture needs to breathe. Place the jar in a cool, dark place (such as a cupboard) for 7 to 10 days. The actual time will depend on your culture and the warmth of the room. Your kombucha will brew faster in hot weather. A film will form on the top of the liquid, which means the culture is working and reproducing. Try not to jostle it while it’s brewing because you’ll eventually want to use this new culture, so it’s best if it stays intact.
Every time you make kombucha, you will produce a new culture. These can be composted or given away to friends. The mother you started with will eventually weaken, so you should always hold back a few “babies” to keep your culture going. When the mother is very dark and rubbery, it should be discarded. After 5 days, begin tasting your kombucha daily. If your container doesn’t have a spigot, this can be done with a small spoon. The kombucha is done when it is no longer sweet. It should taste like tart apple cider. Decant it into glass bottles, so there is no headspace and seal tightly with lids, making sure to save a culture to start the process over. Give away or refrigerate extras. Leave in a cool, dark place, undisturbed, for 5 days. This will allow your kombucha to develop a desirable fizziness. Start another batch in your clean, empty container. After 5 days, the bottles of decanted kombucha can be transferred to the refrigerator and enjoyed.
Making your own soft drinks is simpler than you probably think. It requires nothing more than water, sugar (or other sweeteners), natural flavorings, and yeast to start the fermentation process. Once you get started, you can experiment with different flavors. These recipes call for a special yeast used by home beer brewers, which is easy to find online (see Sources) or at home-brewer shops. This yeast, like active dry yeast, should be kept refrigerated. Though I prefer glass to plastic, generally speaking, I use plastic 1½-liter bottles from bottled water on the off chance the soda over-ferments and explodes before I can refrigerate it. I’ve found it’s a good way to rotate through my supply of earthquake/disaster water, which shouldn’t be kept around for more than a year anyway. Don’t let the talk of explosions scare you, though. They are rare and never happen once the soda is refrigerated.
The powdered herbs called for are available in the bulk section of well-stocked health food stores and sarsaparilla can be found in home-brewing stores. Read “About Homemade Soft Drinks” before getting started.
TIME REQUIRED: 15 minutes active; 2 to 3 days passive
YIELD: 1½ liters
2 tablespoons sarsaparilla bark
to ½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon powdered burdock root
1 teaspoon powdered licorice root
teaspoon brewing yeast
Pour 1½ liters water into a medium saucepan and add the sarsaparilla. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes or so to infuse the water. Turn off the heat, and add cup sugar, the burdock root, and the licorice root. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Taste, add extra sugar if desired, and then pour through a strainer lined with a coffee filter. Let cool to slightly warmer than body temperature. Stir in the yeast until it dissolves. Pour the strained mixture through a funnel into a plastic bottle, without leaving any head room. If the liquid doesn’t fill the bottle, you probably lost some to the strainer. Simply fill to the top with plain warm water. Fasten the cap and let it sit out in a warm place in your kitchen for 24 to 48 hours. When the bottle feels hard to the touch and begins to bulge, refrigerate it. The carbonation should last at least 1 week after opening.
Sweet, spicy, and really refreshing, adults really love this. And it makes an excellent cocktail mixer! You’ll probably find that the ginger beer ferments faster than the root beer.
TIME REQUIRED: 15 minutes active; 1 to 2 days passive
YIELD: 1½ liters
to ½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
teaspoon brewing yeast
Pour 1½ liters water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and add cup sugar and the ginger. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Taste, add extra sugar if desired, and then pour through a strainer lined with a coffee filter. Let cool to slightly warmer than body temperature. Stir in the yeast until it dissolves. Pour the strained mixture through a funnel into a plastic bottle, without leaving any head room. If the liquid doesn’t fill the bottle, you probably lost some to the strainer. Simply fill to the top with plain warm water. Fasten the cap and let it sit out in a warm place in your kitchen for 24 to 48 hours. When the bottle feels hard to the touch and begins to bulge, refrigerate it. The carbonation should last at least 1 week after opening.
Homemade almond milk is so easy to make and is so fresh tasting compared to packaged almond milk. It is great in smoothies, on Granola Your Way or whole-grain porridges, heated up for hot chocolate, or simply enjoyed as a beverage, sweetened with a little agave syrup or honey and a dash of vanilla extract. The more powerful your blender, the better the results. I make almond milk with an old thrift-store blender just fine, but I have to strain it well. No need to discard the spent almond pulp. Spread it out thinly on a cookie sheet and dry it in a 200-degree-F oven for 6 to 8 hours. Sprinkle it over yogurt or porridge or add to muffins or cookies. You can freeze the dried pulp and use it over time.
TIME REQUIRED: 20 minutes active; 8 to 12 hours passive
YIELD: about 5 cups
2 cups (about 8 ounces) whole raw almonds
Soak the almonds in 8 cups water overnight or for up to 15 hours in a bowl in the refrigerator. Puree the almonds, using all of the water, in batches in a blender and strain through a medium-mesh strainer. Pour into a jar or bottle, seal, and refrigerate. The milk will keep, refrigerated, for 5 days.
Chill and shake before serving. Sweeten and embellish to taste with vanilla, cinnamon, honey, maple syrup, sugar, or agave syrup.
There are many variations of this drink, depending on the country of origin. I have heard that the original version came from Spain and is made with tiger nuts (sometimes called chufas), which are actually rhizomes rather than nuts. Some Central American versions contain different kinds of nuts and seeds, like pumpkin seeds. I’ve seen Mexican recipes that contain almonds and milk, instead of water. I settled on this plain rice version made with water, because horchata was probably originally a simple beverage made by people without access to refrigeration. Plus, it’s so creamy and delicious as is, why waste precious dairy?
Most versions contain sugar, but I think agave syrup is excellent here because it dissolves readily in room-temperature liquids. If you want to make this with sugar, you should heat the rice beverage after you blend it so the sugar will dissolve. Depending on your taste, you’ll want to use more sugar than the agave syrup called for here because it is generally 25 percent less sweet than agave syrup. This drink is wonderfully refreshing with spicy food.
TIME REQUIRED: 30 to 40 minutes active; 12 to 14 hours passive
YIELD: 2 quarts
2 cups long-grain white rice
1 vanilla bean
One 2-inch cinnamon stick
¼ to cup agave syrup
Ground cinnamon for garnish (optional)
In a food processor or spice grinder, grind the rice to as fine a powder as possible. A spice grinder will do a better job much faster, but you’ll have to do it in multiple batches. A good food processor with a sharp blade will do the job in about 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, and add 8 cups water.
Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and, with the dull edge of a paring knife, scrape the seeds into the watery rice. Add the scraped bean hull and the cinnamon stick. Stir, cover, and refrigerate for 12 to 14 hours.
Remove the vanilla bean hull and cinnamon stick and process the rice mixture in a food processor or blender. Use whichever one has the sharpest blades and most powerful motor. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, such as a chinoise (the cone-shaped, very fine mesh strainers used in restaurants). If you don’t own one of these quite expensive implements, strain it through a regular strainer lined with a coffee filter. Stir and taste. It will be a little bit grainy, but if it’s unpleasantly so, strain again. The outcome depends so much on the efficiency of your particular appliances and strainers, so experimentation is necessary.
Measure the resulting liquid. You should have between 7 and 8 cups. Add water to bring the volume up to 8 cups. Stir in agave syrup to taste. Pour it into bottles or jars and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Shake before serving. You may want to add a little ground cinnamon to garnish each serving.
Called jamaica (ha-MY-cuh) in Spanish, this ruby-hued drink is made from the flower of the hibiscus plant and is packed with vitamin C. Steeped in water and sweetened to tame its tartness, this is both refreshing and festive on a hot day, making it a great drink for a party. It’s commonly served in Mexico, unadorned, but at Carrie Brown’s Jimtown Store in California, where I first learned to make it, it’s embellished with citrus, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. The amount of sugar is adjustable to taste, and I encourage experimentation with a few sprigs of mint or lemon verbena, a shot of citrus, or a measure of bubbly water. It’s also great for a drink mixer with vodka or gin. Dried hibiscus flowers are widely available in Latin American groceries, health food stores, and specialty groceries.
TIME REQUIRED: 10 minutes active; 10 minutes passive
YIELD: makes 1 gallon
2 heaping cups dried hibiscus flowers
1 cup sugar
2 plain organic black tea bags (optional)
In a large pot, bring 1 gallon water to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the hibiscus flowers and sugar, and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the tea (if using), and let it steep until it cools to room temperature. Strain carefully (it will stain!) and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Serve over ice, plain, or with one of the embellishments noted above.
