Beverage News

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Tried both a sassafras and a sarsaparilla (also with sassafras). I think I prefer the straight sassafras, though I'm going to have to add some vanilla to the next batch. I am pretty sure the commercial root beers use vanilla. And the sarsaparilla is better with the addition of the cherry syrup I got from Hire's Big H, the local die-hard 50's-style drive-in diner, because on its own it tastes like another kind of Ent-draught.

A big success was the recipe the book referred to as "Chinese Restaurant Ginger Beer," which is only called that because it uses orange extract and lemon juice, rather like the sauces used in Chinese restaurants. And of course there's the liquid cinnamon-roll cream soda. So yeah, I am getting the hang of this!

Next up I'm gonna experiment with tea, and also with hibiscus. We'll have to see how it goes.

In other beverage news, while tracking down that hibiscus,* I managed to locate Honeybush tea! Haven't had any since those sons of Mitch at Celestial Seasonings discontinued their Peach Apricot Honeybush, in the neverending saga of Things That Get Discontinued As Soon As I Discover I Like Them. I definitely prefer it over rooibos, but it's harder to find. Now I can experiment with mixing up blends of it myself, dangit!

I am having entirely too much fun with food chemistry. Somebody stop me.


*I'm going to have to start making my own hibiscus tea. Once again, my favorite kind of hibiscus tea was, naturally, discontinued. Since then I've been seeking out a good replacement, but every time I find a likely-looking candidate I check the ingredients and some asshole has added STEVIA to the blend. I curse the day somebody decided to use stevia as a sweetener.

Comments

[tikiera.livejournal.com]

Modern root beers do indeed have some vanilla in it. I had an older recipe for root beer that included vanilla when I researching old herbals - it included yeast and was alchoholic, so I never did try it, so historically some root beers did indeed also have vanilla.

And I have seen sarsaparilla that had cherry in some form in the ingredients, I can remember if it was extract, or cherry bark extract, or what it was. I am a birch beer drinker, mostly, then root beer, than sarsparilla in order of preference, so I didn't buy that one.


If you are going to make your own hibiscus blend, I highly recommend blending it with rose hips and peppermint.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Got the rosehips already; I'll try the peppermint!

I'm using the yeast brewing method, but the alcohol amount you get from a couple of days of brewing is apparenlty negligible.

Do you make soda, too? Neat!

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Ugh stevia -_o didn't like it even before I was allergic to it. I can't stand pre-sweetened teas either, they just taste disgusting, not sweet.
Pre-stevia'd tea must be the worst thing ever.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's just awful. And it's so dang PREVALENT now. Seriously, let me sweeten my OWN damn tea!

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Even when they supposedly just use sugar, pre-sweetened teas never taste sweet, they just taste...nasty.

I keep seeing people say that "Oh, the problem isn't stevia, it's how certain brands process it that gives it a nasty flavor!" and I'm like "...yeah no."

[baroncognito.livejournal.com]

I've found that I do like Honest Tea, and there are certain Arizona Teas that are good.

But yes, if I buy Iced Tea, I typically get Unsweetened because otherwise they'll just be far too sweet.

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

I'd really like to know who decided that tea must be sweetened. I prefer my tea straight, thank you very much. It makes it nigh impossible to find bottled tea. It's either stevia, or that damned nutrasweet that gives me migraines. Bah.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I now, right? Dude, just give me the tea. I'll add my OWN sweetener if I feel like it. Sometimes I just want TEA!

I especially object to the bottled/canned teas with HFC. I don't even actually hate HFC, but why they gotta add it to my tea?!

[black-rider.livejournal.com]

Agree, stevia is my mortal enemy. It ruins the taste of everything!

...also this trend of putting aspartame in "no sugar added" fruit juice is really starting to piss me off.

Have you tried adding a dash of ready-to-drink vanilla syrup to your rootbeer? Torani's pretty readily available, and they make a wide range of flavors. If you want to get super-fancy and exotic, you should start adding bitters to your concoctions. They're amazing for layering in flavors, and contrary to the name, most of them aren't bitter, just aromatic.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? And now that it gets put in everything, I have to carefully inspect the ingredient lists before buying any teas.

Hire's also makes a vanilla syrup! I'll probably get some of that, but I'm also going with adding vanilla beans to the brews themselves. I have yet to try anything with bitters, though. Workingthrough some of the other variables first.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

WHERE DID YOU GET REAL SASSAFRAS TEA?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Starwest Botanicals. The stuff I got is not so much "tea" as it is "coarsely chopped chunks of dried sassafras root bark," though they also have a powdered variety. And I should point out that it's listed as "not for food use" on the site, what with the potential for safrole to give you cancer or liver damage.

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

!!!
TYVM!