The World's Greatest Soda
A few years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a week in Paris on business. Food-wise, this was one of the best experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to sample many foods that I've since become very fond of, like Coq a Vin and Escargot and generally enjoyed myself immensely. I don't believe I had a bad meal the entire time I was there, relishing everything from a simple Croque Monsieur at the little cafe around the corner from the office where we worked to the elaborate multi-course meals that we would have in the evening.
But one of the tastes that I acquired while there has stuck with me, even in the transition back to North Carolina -- I discovered what I was convinced was the world's best orange soda -- Orangina. If you've never had this, you should -- it so completely tops the fake neon-orange concoctions that go by the name Orange Soda in the U.S. (Orange Nehi, Orange Crush, Sunkist, etc.) that it's in a class by itself.
You know something is up when you first pick up a bottle of Orangina and look at it -- the first thing you notice is the gunk at the bottom -- that's real orange pulp, folks. And what's more, the color of the soda isn't the same unnatural brilliant orange that in real life you only see on the outside of an orange -- it's the more natural yellowish-orange color of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Why am I bringing this up? Because in the June/July 2006 issue of Saveur Magazine, I found a recipe that we use as the basis for a home-made orange soda that's even better than Orangina. What's more, since you're completely in control of the process, you know exactly what goes into it -- so if you want to make sure you're using only organic, pesticide-free citrus fruit, you can.
But I get ahead of myself. Anyway, the recipe is called "Fruit Punch" and is found on Page 89 in an article about the Henegar-Union shape note singing convention. The article claims that this is a recipe that's been handed down since before the Civil war -- I'm not sure on the relevance of that, but you should keep in mind that the time after the civil war was the heyday of Soda flavor concoction -- the recipes for Coca Cola, Pepsi-Cola and Dr. Pepper all date back to this time.
But anyway, on to the recipe. First, begin with three oranges, and three lemons.
Juice the oranges and lemons -- you should end up with a little over two cups of fresh-squeezed juice. Save the pulp left over as you juice the fruit! This comes in on the next step. Set the juice aside in the refrigerator for now.
Now, since you didn't throw out the remaining pulp and citrus rinds, you can use them in the next step of the recipe. Halve the rinds and place them in a bowl with the pulp. Add 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp of cream of tartar and 1/4 cup of citric acid to the rinds.
A note on the citric acid -- this is the single ingredient in this that's a little hard to acquire. Most mega-marts don't carry it, but it's easy enough to find on the internet, since it's used in canning frequently. I found my on Amazon.
Pour two cups of boiling water over the rinds and acid.
Let them steep for 15 minutes. Strain the resulting liquid and set aside to cool.
Now make a simple syrup by combining 4 cups of sugar with two cups of water in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is clear. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
When the syrup and steeped liquid is cool, combine it with the juice in a glass jar or spare pitcher.
Place in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to combine. What you've just created is a concentrate -- if you want you could freeze it, or simply keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Now you can take two tacks on using this concentrate. The first is simply to combine it about 4-1 with water, making an absolutely killer lemonade-like fruit punch.
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