Anyone who has found the times of the Soviet Union will probably remember automatic machines from which ordinary carbonated water could be drunk for one kopeck , and syrup for three. Representatives of the older generation with nostalgia recall smiling saleswomen standing behind cone-shaped vessels with faucets: for 4 kopecks soda with standard syrup, for 8 with double. Now, alas, the food industry is so merged with the chemical industry that it’s scary to even think which Mendeleev’s table we use under the brand name “Citro” or “Coca-Cola”. But you can make drinks, the taste of which we remember from childhood, and with our own hands. How to make soda at home?
For starters, quite a bit of theory. Any soda - simple, sweet, with a variety of flavors - contains two main components. It is water and carbon dioxide. In the language of chemistry, this is a solution of CO 2 in H 2 O. Everything else: syrups, herbal decoctions, caramelized sugar are just flavors. Suppose there is clean water in any home. And where to get this very carbon dioxide? And, most importantly, how to dissolve it in water? In a word, how to make soda at home? The easiest way is to use a siphon. This is such a container with a can of carbon dioxide. When the handle is pressed, it is pumped under pressure into ordinary water, thus a bubbling drink is obtained in a glass. You can pour fruit juice, juice, compote or a decoction of herbs into the siphon. In short, this is a necessary thing in everyday life. But now it’s difficult to get a siphon, and there are a lot of such tanks. How to make soda at home without it, is it possible?
Yes, and at no particular cost. If you like cooking, you’ll probably find all the ingredients you need in your kitchen. Remember what they do to make the dough airy? That's right: some slaked soda is added to it . A chemistry textbook for the 6th grade presents us with the simplest rule: alkali neutralizes acid, and carbon dioxide is released as a result of this simple chemical reaction. If we put vinegar or lemon juice (acid) on baking soda (alkali), the expected reaction will occur: the mixture begins to foam, emitting bubbles. The most intelligent have already guessed how to make soda at home. But still I will explain: in a glass pour a spoonful of soda and half a spoonful of citric acid, pour cold boiled water. Everything - the foamy drink is ready.
Once you have learned how to make homemade soda, you can learn how to make drinks based on it. Here, for example, "Baikal" - "our answer to Chamberlain," or rather, Coca-Cola, invented in 1967. For 3 liters of drink, we will need 10 g of St. John's wort, Eleutherococcus, licorice, fir needles, half a lemon and a glass of sugar. Pour herbs and needles with hot water, let it brew for 3 hours. Filter the liquid, boil again, pour sugar, cool, squeeze the juice of lemon, mix with soda.
There is another way to make soda at home. It is necessary to mix the chemical reaction catalysts directly in a glass. Make pear juice from one juicy fruit, dissolve sugar in it to taste. Squeeze juice from a third of the lemon into this mixture. Pour a little soda into the glass and pour the juice. The famous Duchesse drink is ready.