Saturday DIY: Small Batch Orange Soda

Today I mended clothes and made orange soda while I watched Firefly. To be perfectly honest, mending clothes is enjoyable, when it goes well. But the real accomplishment was making a tiny batch of orange soda. I discovered the recipe on Food 52, which is one of my two favorite cooking websites. (The other one is The Kitchn, if you were wondering.) The original recipe called for zest of one lime, and I didn't have any limes in the house, but I do have a bottle of Lime Essential Oil from Young Living, one of the few of their oils that is safe to ingest. Besides, I had oranges sitting on my counter, just itching to be made into something.

Once you've read the original recipe and read my version, you'll see there are a number of changes; I can't leave a recipe alone. That, and today I was working with what I had in the house... Therefore, I used the lime oil, a couple of lemons, and plain seltzer water. Quite frankly, it's fantastic.

Orange Soda (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 4 oranges
• 2 small lemons
• 1-2 drops Young Living lime essential oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• seltzer water

Zest the oranges and add the zest to a medium saucepan. Add the lime essential oil. Juice the oranges and lemons, making sure you have two cups of juice, then add the juice to the pan. Stir in the sugar.

 

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, let simmer on low heat for 8-10 minutes, or until mixture has reduced by 1/3. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes, and then pour the syrup through a fine mesh strainer into a glass jar. Discard the pulp and zest. Cap jar and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

 

To drink: mix one part syrup and two parts seltzer in a glass filled with ice. Stir it up and serve with an orange slice if desired. Enjoy!

 

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It may seem like this won't be sweet, but with the addition of the lemons in the syrup, you really don't need the lemon-lime flavored seltzer the original recipe calls for.