Stephanie has had the pleasure of working next to the folks of P&H Soda Co. for the past month at Madison Square Eats, an outdoor popup food fair. Not only did she drink tons of gourmet soda (her favorite flavor was ginger-lime, by the way), but she also learned that Anton, the owner, was once on TV with Martha Stewart! When she sent me this video back in February, she never even heard of Anton or his soda company, but knew I would be interested in making Anton’s cream soda at home; I’m so glad I did!I don’t even like cream soda*. But I do like the idea of making my own soda! Two years ago I made ginger ale with my sixth grade class, and since then I became very interested (read: obsessed) in making my own soda. Root beer has been on my research and to do list for a long time, but with the many ingredients involved, I haven’t gotten around to it (and no, root beer extract doesn’t count). For the ginger ale, we used yeast to get the carbonation. This time around, I actually made a syrup and added it to seltzer.
*I never really drink soda. And I never really liked cream soda, so I had no idea that it was just vanilla flavored soda. I love vanilla! And turns out, I really liked this cream soda. So maybe I like store-bought cream soda, too.
Cream Soda Syrup, adapted from P&H Soda Company:
- 2 cups organic cane sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 cups water
- Juice of one lemon
- Vanilla bean, halved and scraped
Directions:
1. Combine sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small pot and bring to a boil until the mixture is dark amber, or 280 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Turn off the heat and add 2 cups of water. Turn the heat back on, and add the juice of one lemon and the halved vanilla bean, making sure to scrape the seeds into the mixture.
3. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and let steep for one hour. That’s it! So easy!
4. To make it into soda:
Fill your glass with ice, add enough syrup and top with seltzer. The amount of syrup is really up to you. I usually add a shot of syrup, fill with seltzer, and taste. Then I add a tablespoon of syrup at a time until I get my desired sweetness.
