These days, there's all sorts of talk about the environment, about eating fresh and local. However, there's not a lot of talk about what we drink. Cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles -- we go through these at a huge rate. But we don't need to -- at least, not totally. We might not be able to quickly whip up our own beer or wine at home, but we can make all of those tasty carbonated beverages. As soon as I heard about the Soda Club over at The Kitchn in February, I wanted one. Sparkling water at my finger tips? Without having to pay a buck a bottle? It seemed to good to be true. Then, a good friend of mine got me one for my birthday last month. I don't know how I ever went without it, and I really don't know why everyone isn't doing this.
It requires no electricity -- just a CO2 carbonator. You attach a bottle of water, push the magic button a few times, and there's some fizzy seltzer. You can also put in flavoring for flavored water, or a number of other syrups to make your own soda/pop. I've tried the root beer and lemon lime varieties so far, and I was completely happy with them. There's no walking to the store. I just walk over to my kitchen, pop on a bottle of cold water, and seconds later, I have the perfectly fizzed drink.
Unfortunately, my plastic bottles for the fountain jet need to be replaced every few years, but that's already a lot less bottles. (You can, however, spend more and get the Penguin, which uses glass carafes.) The basic jet, that I have, costs about $100, and the penguin -- $250. Yes, you have to send in your carbonators for replacements, but it's a heck of a lot less effort than running out for soda water when the urge hits, storing it somewhere, and dealing with all the empties.
It's quickly become one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, although I have to refrain from carbonating everything I drink. Do any of you have one? Any tips for newbies?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-04-2008 @ 12:33AM
e said...
My family had one of these soda making things in the early 90's. It was amazing and so much better tasting than mass produced soda. For some reason the CO2 catridges became unavailable and we couldn't use the machine anymore. Thanks for sharing this.
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6-04-2008 @ 1:05AM
wader said...
I did this and it works amazingly. 4 liters today alone.
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001818.php
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6-04-2008 @ 1:13AM
Bob S. said...
If you want to experiment with sodas, Prairie Moon in Illinois (that should be enough info to get them in Google) has a variety of unsweetened flavors -- you add simple syrup to taste. You can also use Torani syrups (or whatever other flavored syrups are available); roughly equal shots of cinnamon and caramel give you cola. (You can add a little orange extract to bring it a little closer to Coke or lemon to bring it a little closer to Pepsi.)
And with summer arriving, I recommend an ice cream maker for homemade vanilla ice cream to complement your homemade root beer.
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6-04-2008 @ 8:46AM
Michael said...
You can actually do this with dry ice cut into very tiny pieces, no machine required. You just have to be careful not to use too much or the bottle will explode.
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6-04-2008 @ 10:03AM
jamaila said...
We got one a few weeks ago and I have no idea how we lived without it. Our household's drink of choice is half carbonated water and half pomegranate juice. We drink so much of it that we've started buying pomegranate juice by the gallon and mixing it right in the jug.
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6-04-2008 @ 10:36AM
Maman said...
I LOVE my seltzer maker... my girls are making their own sodas and I always have fizzy water on hand. These people are geniuses
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6-04-2008 @ 12:31PM
floretbroccoli said...
I absolutely love it. Seltzer is my main drink, which is good, since their syrups aren't so great. I'll have to look into some of Bob S's suggestions.
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6-04-2008 @ 1:35PM
Monika said...
Bob - Don't tease me! I've been itching to get a stand-alone ice cream maker for ages. I can't get the regular tub-in-freezer kind because my freezer is just too small. One day..
In the meantime, I wonder how amaretto-flavoured pop would be...
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6-04-2008 @ 4:34PM
love2cook said...
I buy real soda syrup at costco so i use my seltzer maker but have real diet coke. I use 1/2 c of syrup per liter and it is PERFECT and delish.
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