I used to be a soda pop junkie. A few years ago, I decided to give it up. I don’t really remember why. But, I think a handful of cavities had something to do with it. And maybe empty calories, too.
Regardless, I kicked my cola habit. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes like a sweet, fizzy drink. Instead of opening a can, though, I rely on other soft beverages like this Lime-Mint Cooler or the simple Pellegrino and Lime. Since making a bigger effort to change our family’s sugar intake, I’ve also started tinkering with homemade sodas, or sparklies as we call them around here.
No, I haven’t bought a fizzy machine. I just buy club soda at the store and add my own flavorings, usually fruit juice and Honey Syrup. The syrup keeps on hand for about a week or so, and I can vary the flavor with the kind of juice I have or with mint or ginger.
This weekend I had cranberry juice to use up. Plain, unsweetened cranberry juice. It’s a bit tart, I might say. I decided I didn’t really care for it plain, but what would it be like in a soda?
This Homemade Cranberry Soda still retains a bit of that tartness, but it gets mellowed with the addition of honey. Try different fruit juices if cranberry isn’t your bag.
You can definitely taste the honey. If you like honey, you’re good to go. If not, it might take some getting used to. The honey flavor is clearly present. Otherwise you can use standard Simple Syrup.
Homemade Cranberry Soda
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened cranberry juice
- 1 cup Honey Syrup
- 4 to 5 cups club soda about 1 liter
Instructions
- In a pitcher, whisk together the juice and syrup.
- Stir in the club soda.
- Serve over ice.
Notes
Nutrition
Are you a soda drinker?
This is part of the DIY Convenience Foods series.
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Linda Budzik
For Thanksgiving, I make “Cranberry Punch”. I just use a frozen can of cranberry juice (or cranberry/ raspberry juice), club soda or sparkling water, and a scoop of frozen limeade mix (about 1/4 of the can). Everyone seems to like the fizziness and the sour from the limeade and the pucker from the cranberry juice.
Jessica Fisher
Sounds yummy! I love the limeade addition. Great idea, Linda.
Linda
So i’m wondering if this is a drink right away thing to keep it fizzy? Can a batch be kept in an empty 2 ltr bottle and keep its fizz? I just dont know if i could drink all of that right away and if its flat then i might as well just drink the juice lol. Thanks i gotta try it anyway! Looks wonderful 🙂
Jessica Fisher
You can keep the juice mixture separate and add club soda for each serving. The entire batch needs to be consumed in one sitting.
sarah
Love to make fizzy juice too. I do have a fizzy machine and use it all the time. It was something I got as a gift and wondered if I would actually use…I DO:)
My favorite is to mix pomegranate and orange juices plus fizzy water. The juices have enough sugar for me. But my family adds a splash of simple syrup.
Sarah
Sheena @ Hot Eats and Cool Reads
This looks fantastic! I love making my own soda!