Refreshing Summer Sparklers

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

What do you like to quench your thirst with in the summer? During a hot day of outdoor fun, lots of people love to grab an ice cold glass of soda. Some of us even like to wake up with a morning glass of cola instead of the more common coffee or tea. My husband can’t start his day without some of his favorite brand of diet cola.

Nutrition advocates have warned us that soda can be very detrimental to our health. It’s full of high fructose corn syrup and loads of empty calories. Recent news has shown that even calorie free diet soda can be health damaging as it replaces potentially more nutritious hydrating choices and has shown links to osteoporosis, stroke, and type two diabetes.

Heavy diet soda consumption has been linked to weight gain (the artificial sweetener may actually confuse the body and help encourage sugar cravings) and decreased kidney function, along with dissolving the calcium in tooth enamel. And of course, all that caffeine is addicting too. It’s funny to think that a beverage that was once used for medicinal purposes – think root beer or tonic – is now so harmful to our health and the environment.

Our littlest son could follow in his dad’s footsteps. Recently we had trouble prying a cup of lemon lime soda out of his hands after one innocent little taste at the pizza place. It was cute to see him proclaim his love for the fizzy stuff, but we could see how easily a habit could form. It reminded me that as a child, I drank tons of soda, specifically that same clear kind. I sometimes wonder if I might have grown another inch or two if I didn’t have this habit during my teen years! All kidding aside, nowadays I mostly stick to plain water, and have tried to steer the kids away from developing a soda habit themselves, reserving it for rare vacation and holiday treats only.

So what can you do if you’re a soda addict and want to change your ways? It can be just as hard to quit drinking soda cold turkey as coffee. Caffeine withdrawal causes some serious headaches (I’ll be the first to say so after I haven’t had a morning cup of coffee), so you’ll want to do it gradually, and maybe have some painkillers on hand. But in the meantime if you want to enjoy healthier soda in moderation, you can try doing it yourself!

Make homemade soda with a variety of flavorings combined with sparkling water or seltzer. OK, it might be tricky to replicate the recipe of the top selling cola brand without a chemistry degree, but you can still make very good ginger ale, root beer, and fruit flavored sodas to enjoy at home.

Start simply with thirst quenching sparkling water, flavored with a squeeze of lemon or lime. You can add a dash of simple syrup or natural sweetener (stevia or agave) if you like it sweet. Substitute fresh fruit juice for the citrus and you can make an array of fizzy summer beverages such as watermelon, blackberry, or cherry sparklers.

Or try your hand at ginger ale. Real ginger is great for the immune system and fighting nausea. There are a couple different ways to do it: make a ginger syrup by simmering peeled, chopped ginger with simple syrup and then mix with seltzer water. For a more bracing flavor, run fresh ginger through a juicer or food processor, strain and sweeten before mixing with the sparkling water. If you have a couple days, try making home brewed ginger beer by fermenting ginger root and lemon with a little yeast and sugar. This concoction can contains a small amount of alcohol due to the fermentation process.

Combine homemade ginger ale with your favorite fruit for a refreshing summer sparkler you’ll feel good about drinking. If you are up for purchasing a new appliance you can also try one of the soda makers on the market. It’s a healthier way to keep up with a soda habit with less added sugar and wasted plastic.

So try making your own brand of soda. You may never go back to the bottled stuff again!

Serves/Makes: 6

• 3 tablespoons ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 3 cups seltzer water
• 3 pounds watermelon, flesh of, pureed and strained
• 1 lemon, juiced
• ice cubes, as needed
• lemon slices, for garnish