Home-Made Soda: The Syrup, Dex#

I'm revisiting Soda Syrup, for a couple of reasons. The lemon-lime I had come up with was tasty, but it was too much work to make a glass. The syrup was very thick, and hard to stir in. Cutting, squeezing, and crushing the lemons and limes was a hassle. We stopped making it, and after a while, diet drinks started showing up at home.

This new and improved syrup:

• Is thinner due to not using corn syrup.
• Contains some stevia, a natural sweetener that, best I can tell, has no bad effects on health.
• Has emulsifiers (I will spare you all the details on experiments), which allow use of oils for flavoring, and also gives a nice foam like store-bought cokes.

The cream of tartar and simmering time help keep the syrup from crystallizing as quickly when stored. If it does crystallize, heat (microwave is fine) until crystals dissolve.

Soda Syrup Dex#

Yield: 1152 g (3.6 cup), enough for four 2-liter bottles of soda.

107 g (0.54 cup) sugar

464 g (4.03 cup) dextrose

168 g (2 cup) Benefiber

1/16 tsp (1 pinch) cream of tartar

413 g (1.82 cup) water

1 tsp table salt

3/8 tsp accent

2 drops glycerin

5.1 g (1 tsp) stevia drops

4.8 g (0.845 tsp) gum arabic**
.55 g (0.07 tsp) xanthan gum**

* To make it Dex++, use 38 g (0.45 cup) Benefiber

** For easier measuring, make the emulsifier blend listed below, and use 5.4 g (.92 tsp) of the blend in place of gum arabic and xanthan gum in this recipe. Store extra in a clean, dry spice bottle.

Instructions

1. In the pot, mix together sugar, dextrose, fiber, and cream of tartar. Add water and optional salts for soda syrup, and stir to combine over low heat.
2. Note: be prepared to remove the pot from the heat If it begins to boil over.
3. Increase heat to medium-high, continue to stir while bring to a gentle boil (250). Wash any sugars off the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. Reduce heat (220), cover, and simmer 10 min. Remove from heat and cool 30 minutes or to room temperature.
4. Add water to achieve final weight/volume, to account for evaporated water.
5. Add stevia, and emulsifiers. Blend well with an immersion blender.
6. Store refrigerated.

**Emulsifier Blend

Easier quantities to measure. Makes 70 g, about ¼ cup

• 63 g (3.69 Tbsp) gum arabic
• 7 g (0.95 tsp) xanthan gum

Ingredient details:

NOW Foods BetterStevia Liquid,8-Ounce

Gum Arabic Powder Frontier Natural Products 1 lb Bulk

NOW Foods Xanthan Gum Powder, 6-Ounce
**Bulk Dextrose, or find locally at brew supply, or at Amazon; also sold as dextrose monohydrate, and corn sugar