kitchengeek.co.nz

we are bigs fans of knowing what you eat and drink. once you get into the habit, and with the help of a few kitchen gadgets (wink, wink), it's surprisingly easy to avoid a lot of processed food and make it yourselves instead. that gives you full control over ingredients and skips all those nasty artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives. you know, all those e-prefixed 3-digit numbers in the ingredients list.

we are also big fans of the food truck show, in which michael van der elsen has an all-natural go at various fast foods and other treats. his attempts at coming up with all natural soft drinks inspired us to do the same. even though coca-cola's official recipe is still a secret, most of the ingredients are pretty well known. most of the recipes on the internet rely on oils or essences, but it seemed better to go for something all natural. 

below a recipe combined from various internet recipes and adapted to what's available in nz. give it a go, you'll be surprised how easy it is and how good it tastes. ready?

ingredients (for about 1 litre of syrupy goodness)
• 1 litre water
• finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
• finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• finely grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
grating is so much easier if you use the microplane from our previous kitchengeek release
if you've got our lemon squeezer then juicing is a treat as well
• 3 cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces
• 2 teaspoons of coriander
seeds are called for, we used ground for now
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
finely grated whole nutmeg is best, but ground will work as well
• 1kg of sugar
yes, it's scary how much sugar that is, but that's what the recipe calls for. less should be possible, but will likely change the taste a bit. our next cola recipe will investigate replacing all or part of this with honey
• 2 tablespoons of gravy browning to colour your syrup
hansells seems to be the main brand available in nz ($3-$4 in most supermarkets). it consists of water, a natural caramel colour, and acetic acid (e260, yes, an e-thingy, but not a baddy)
• 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

optional (will improve your drink)
• 1 teaspoon of gum arabic
also known as gum acacia, it is a food thickener used in many processed goods. not a baddy as far as we know. it should make your cola a bit more syrupy and with a better mouth feel. unfortunately, after trying most supermarkets and specialist food stores, we have not been able to find this yet, other than in industrial size packaging for the food industry. do comment below if you've found a source in nz
• 15gr (about 2 tablespoons) dried orange peel
we found some sweet orange peel (100gr, about $6) at huckleberry farms, some recipes call for bitter orange peel, either should work in adding a bit more zest

instructions

combine water, zests (lemon, orange, lime), cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, orange peel (if using) and gum arabic (if using), in a large saucepan. whisk together until dissolved. stir in the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.

boil for about a minute

remove from heat and stir in juices (orange, lime, lemon), together with the gravy browning and the vanilla. let it cool and then strain.

the cola syrup you've now got will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

drinking

mix 1 measure of syrup with 3-4 measures of soda water. enjoy!

brewing/bottling

alternatively you can brew your cola and create your own CO2 bubbles. for this you need to make a trip to your local homebrew shop (lhbs in brewer speak). get a sachet of champagne yeast (lalvin ec1118 is the one commonly available here, will cost $2-$3 for 7grams, enough for 25 litre). make sure you store the yeast in the fridge. also pick up a couple of plastic brewers bottles. pick the size (0.5l, 0.75l, 1.25l, 2l) that's most handy to you. you can use glass bottles as well, but you're building up quite a bit of pressure, so safer to use plastic if you haven't done this before.

simply add 4 litres of water to the 1 litre syrup made above and add about half a teaspoon of the yeast, stir and fill the bottles with a properly sanitized syphon. then store at room temperature for 2-3 days. you'll feel the plastic bottle harden up. the yeast will keep on going, so make sure to move your bottles to a fridge after 3 days to make it dormant. best if you keep it chilled for about a week. open the bottles very carefully, and in 4-5 turn-pssst-and-close routines over a sink, until it's safe to completely open the bottle. enjoy over ice or dare to mix. 

improvements

our first attempt was claimed a great success by both ourselves and our friends that dared to be guinea pigs. and yes, it does taste surprisingly like a more natural coca cola. we could probably reduce the sugar and cinnamon levels a bit. go with coriander seeds and whole nutmeg rather than the ground powder cheats. we're on a quest to find a good quality strainer for a kitchengeek release, as the one we were using leaves a bit too much sediment in the drink. and finally find that elusive arabic gum and start replacing the sugar with honey.

now over to you

go on, give it a try, easy - and a world of homemade sodas will open up. do share your experiences below. and enjoy the real thing!