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Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda

February 21, 2014


Phew! Almost forgot about this month’s Recipe Redux.  I even thought to myself yesterday “Ohh, have to remember to post that!” and then bam.  Immediately forgot the date.  Does that happen to anyone else?  You feel like you have so much more time left in the month, and then it’s practically over.  To add to my sense of “wtf is wrong with my brain”, I just realized that I was thinking it was a day later than I actually is, so I’m writing this the night before as usual.  Whyyyyyy can’t I get something as basic as days right?

Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda

One thing I got right?  This syrup.  I bought a fancy, shmancy water carbonator, pretty much only because I could.  I don’t buy or drink a lot of soda, but it’s nice to have carbonated soda on demand and it pays for itself pretty quickly even if you just semi-often buy a bottle of soda water occasionally for making vodka sodas or making amazing fizzy lemon water.  Now that I have it though, I want to carbonate all of the things and make every kind of homemade soda imaginable.

Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda

If I have one ultimate soda kryptonite, it’s Red Pop.  Do you have Faygo where you live?  It’s definitely regional and rather unfortunately mostly associated with a certain psycho clown-inspired musical act.  Regardless, I looooooves it.  Faygo can trick me into buying literally any flavor of soda (including a disgusting diet chocolate cream pie…. twice.  TWICE I FELL FOR THIS!!!).  Most of Faygo’s creations are amazing, and in a zombie apocalypse, I would take down anyone that stood between me and the precious last bottle of Red Pop.  Unfortunately, it’s full of dyes and sugar and all of the delicious icky things I try to stay clear of, so I set off to make my own version.  While this doesn’t have the true taste of “Red” that I love, it’s delightfully strawberry-y, in a oh-this-is-actually-a-real-fruit kind of way.

Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda

P.S. Not a fan of soda?  You could drizzle this over ice cream or use it to make pink milk (though, it’d require a little heavy handed pouring to overpower a milk taste, I think).  Or just dip your fingers in it.  I definitely wasn’t doing that in between pictures.

Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda

P.P.S.  See that adorable beaker mug?  Josh got it for me for Christmas.  #nerdlife

Strawberry Syrup + Strawberry Soda
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Cook time: 
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Ingredients
  • 2 lbs strawberries, hulled and quartered (fresh or frozen)
  • 4 c water
  • 1 c agave nectar, to taste
  • Soda water (if making soda)

Instructions
  1. Place strawberries and water in a sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Bring to boil and reduce, cooking and stirring occasionally until strawberries have lost most of their color and look what I’d describe as “naked”. Skim off any foam that appears.
  3. Using a slotted spoon or a sieve, strain out strawberries (I recommend a fine sieve, but a slotted spoon will work if you’re not afraid of seeds or very small pieces). Do NOT press down on strawberries or your syrup will be weird and cloudy.
  4. Return liquid to the saucepan, if necessary. Add agave (increasing slightly if you have a very strong sweet tooth). Cook until reduced to about 3 c.
  5. To make soda, cool and add to carbonated water (NOT tonic water, which is already sweetened), to taste. I liked mine with a squeeze of lemon.

Notes
This will NOT thicken up like a simple syrup, because you’re not super-saturating the water. If you’d like it to be thicker, you can use a starch to thicken, but it will make the syrup cloudy.
To achieve a delicious 20 oz glass of soda, I settled around 50 mL (about 3½ tbsp)
The discarded strawberries will have lost most of their flavor, but they still taste good on top of ice cream if you don’t want to waste them.

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7 Comments
    Miguel Jun 02, 2014

    This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger.
    I’ve joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your
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    Nina Mills Feb 23, 2014

    Great way to liven up some sparkling water. Love the REAL strawberry flavour

    Sarah Grace FFH Feb 22, 2014

    If you’re going to have soda, this is the way to go! Love strawberries, could I just eat the syrup? 🙂
    xoxo Sarah Grace, Fresh Fit N Healthy.

    cheri Feb 21, 2014

    Hi Kelly, this looks so good, just pinned this.

    Janel Feb 21, 2014

    I love making my own pop. Have never tried strawberry syrup. Yum! Oh, and my favorite Faygo flavor – Rock & Rye.

    mycreativeflavorssonia Feb 21, 2014

    Hi Kelly,
    It is looking so good with all the lovely pictures and write up as well. I have been here after a while but enjoyed scrolling through your rest of the wonderful recipes. Tomato soup is very nice. I’ve bookmarked this special recipe of yours and would love to give it a shot. Thanks for sharing awesome posts and shall look forward to your next post. Have a wonderful week ahead.
    Best Regards, Sonia !!!

    Joanne Feb 21, 2014

    I don’t think we have that kind of soda here, but I am definitely intrigued! I want a soda that tastes like strawberries!!