Books on Homemade or Artisan Sodas

[LT Wong]

I'm looking for a book on homemade sodas and drinks, and couldn't find any threads on non-alcoholic ones in the forum.

I did some browsing on Amazon, and narrowed down to these four. Can anyone who have these books share their opinions on them -

Homemade Soda by Andrew Schloss

Make Your Own Soda by Anton Nocito

Artisan Soda Workshop by Andrea Lynn

Homemade Root Beer, Soda and Pop by Stephen Cresswell

Any comments, suggestions or recommendations are welcomed.

Thanks.

[Syzygies]

In San Francisco, there's an old school soda fountain bar, far more advanced and retro than I've seen anywhere else: The Ice Cream Bar. The sodas are fantastic.

They're country cousins to a serious revival in alcoholic mixed drinks, with some crossover in their gurus.

They sold a unique book in the shop, that I recall was hard (but not impossible) to find online. For the life of me, I can't figure out from any of my logs or emails what that book is. Call them? They'll be friendly, and you're a kindred spirit.

Get a very precise scale.

[Kerry Beal]

How about "Fix the Pumps" by Darcy O'Neill. Lots of soda's (some alcoholic, some not). A great read!

[HungryC]

Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation....if you're seriously interested in creating carbonation through natural fermentation (as opposed to making flavored syrups to mix with carbonated water). He discusses naturally fermented ginger beer, root beer, sweet potato fly, and offers a couple of pages of inventive soda flavors (p 164-165).

[Syzygies]

How about "Fix the Pumps" by Darcy O'Neill.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the book they stock at The Ice Cream Bar.

Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation

A great book I have. Aspires to address all aspects of fermentation, and gives a different side of making sodas. Classic soda recipes can require a 0.01 gram scale for twenty odd ingredients. A Katz ginger beer recipe is a different world view.

I know first-hand that artisan bread making is more difficult with freshly ground (green) flour; it took me fifty tries and a few additives to end up with a bread better than I could buy, and it helped that I could already make classic artisan loaves, and hippy bricks from freshly ground flour. Here, I'd master both approaches separately (O'Neill, Katz) before even dreaming of combining them.

[IndyRob]

Perhaps more Anarchical than Artisanal, but I figured OpenCola might be worth a mention.

[LT Wong]

Thanks for the recommendations. Fix the Pumps sounds like another great book to add to my collection.

I already have Sandor Katz's first book - Wild Fermentation - when it first came out.. Is his latest very different from the first one (2003 publication)?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have read Homemade Soda. I found it interesting but I have not tried any of the recipes. My interest is that I would like a cola that tastes like coke, but is less sweet than coke and sweetened only with sucrose. Maybe open cola might be the way to go, but somehow I doubt I could really make something that tastes as good as coke. Why coke does not offer such a product I do not understand.

[Lisa Shock]

How about "Fix the Pumps" by Darcy O'Neill. Lots of soda's (some alcoholic, some not). A great read!

I really enjoyed it, the book takes time to explain the functions of various ingredients.

[Franci]

This one has just been released

[djyee100]

In San Francisco, there's an old school soda fountain bar, far more advanced and retro than I've seen anywhere else: The Ice Cream Bar. The sodas are fantastic.

I'll give two thumbs up for the Ice Cream Bar in SF, also. Definitely the place to go if you are in SF and interested in artisan sodas. The last time I was there I had a wild cherry phosphate with a scoop of creme fraiche ice cream. It was excellent.

If you're in SF, you can also check out Drinkwell lacto-fermented sodas at the Saturday Farmers Market, SF Ferry Building. Pricey but very good, with unusual flavors. The last time I was there, the stand was located next to the Blue Bottle coffee cart on the right side of the building as you face the water. Near the Roli Roti truck. About Drinkwell:

http://eatwell.com/2010/04/25/drinkwell-lacto-fermented-soft-drink-production-ready-to-increase/

[Hugh Anderson]

I have Artisan Soda workshop and can't really recommend it, because some of the recipes are bizarrely diluted. For example the cinnamon syrup recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of agave mixed into 1 1/2 cups of water, and then it recommends that you use 2 tablespoons of this "syrup" mixed with 10 ounces of seltzer water. A back of the envelope calculation tells me that you'd end up with less than 4 grams of sweetener per 10 ounces of liquid - by comparison a can of Coke has 10 times that amount of sugar. The book is also rather small (6x6 inches) and flimsy. On a positive note, the flavor ideas are interesting & mostly focused on using fresh fruit/produce, so if that strikes your fancy & you're willing to adjust the recipes then it might fit your needs.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I just noticed that MC has a section on sodas and a recipe (p 2-472) for a delightful looking orange soda starting from 700 grams of navel oranges. This has me thinking of an orange ice cream soda...