Monday, August 12, 2013

Pomegranate Soda

Still working on the picture situation. I'm considering switching to Word Press or another blogging platform, mostly because I've found some irritations about Blogger and particularly, the limitations on photos. I'm also considering Flicker or other photo-sharing platforms. It's especially unfortunate today, because today's item (it's not a recipe; it has three ingredients and involves mixing) is really beautiful.

The really exciting thing, though, is its flavor, enough to get me back behind the keyboard of this blog! I'm home from Brookhaven National Lab, and recently visited our to-be new house in Southern California. This fall, I will be a graduate student at University of California, Riverside. My parents have decided that it's worth it to buy and later sell a house rather than rent apartments for my brother (who will be entering UCR as an undergrad, yay!) and me for the few years we'll be there. The house is nice enough, needs a little work, but the best thing about it is the "hedge." Some amazing person decided that instead of jasmine or rosemary, they would plant pomegranate trees! They're in season now, and I brought one home for testing.

I pulled out all the arils (the little, tart red things around the seeds) using a bowl of water, then whirled them in a blender for a few minutes. After straining out all the seeds, I was left with a lovely, very tart, ruby juice. With some sugar and sparkling water, it's probably the best soda I've ever had and actually reminded me a bit of blackberries. Here's to more pomegranate fun in the future!

Pomegranate Soda
2 tbsp. pomegranate juice
1 tbsp. simple syrup (1:1 ratio of sugar + hot water, mix until dissolves)
Sparkling water

Mix the juice and syrup, then top off  with the sparkling water. I like to add about 3 oz. or so to this amount of juice and syrup. Enjoy! Easily scaled up. Hurray, summer! :D