June/July 1992
By Paul E. Johnson
Root beer has a rich history dating back as far as Colonial America. Every farm wife had her own secret recipe of herbs, roots, and spice that she would brew into root beer. The name "root beer" comes from the roots used in the recipe. Today, America has a tremendous sweet tooth; and our soda pop is much sweeter than the pop produced even 50 years ago. That's one reason why making your own soda pop can be so rewarding. You can make it to suit your own taste.
RELATED CONTENT
Here is a method of tanning hides that is low cost and low labor compared to other methods of "cust...
Buying or building a small home is a great way to significantly reduce your energy use, and you don...
There are thousands upon thousands of abandoned farmhouses scattered throughout the U.S., at bargai...
I'm renting an old Finnish homestead near Nolalu, Ontario....
A community canning center is the answer....
Brewing vs. Fountain
The difficult part about brewing root beer, or any flavored soda, is creating the little CO 2 bubbles that we are all so fond of. They can be chemically produced through the brewing process, which takes equipment, patience, and a fair amount of skill. There is a much easier way that produces a very high quality product—the soda fountain method.
Fifty years ago, an American drugstore would not have been complete without a row of stools and a countertop. Behind the counter sat the soda fountain, a machine which produced charged water (carbonated water). You would sit up at the counter, plop down your nickel, and order a Cherry Coke. The person behind the counter would put a squirt of Coke syrup and a squirt of cherry syrup into a glass of ice, pull the lever, fill it up with carbonated water, and you had yourself an ice cold glass of soda pop.
Today, however, there is virtually no soda pop made in this manner. The entire process of carbonation and mixing is done at your local bottling plant. Even a fastfood glass of pop is premixed and carbonated at the factory. The beauty of the soda fountain was that you could make your drink any strength and/or flavor you wished, simply by mixing different kinds of syrup.
Your Own Root Beer
Today, we will be making root beer using the soda-fountain method. It is easy, safe, and you can still use your creativity to make your own family recipe. The most difficult part of brewing soda pop has been taken care of for us—carbonation will be provided by soda water. You can buy it in any grocery store. (You can use soda water, club soda, or almost anything carbonated.) Mineral water and ginger ale, however, tend to add flavor to your drink, so stick with club soda to start.
The Syrup
Preparing root beer concentrate is surprisingly simple. It consists of a sugar base and the flavored extract. Most of us are used to the super-sweet commercially produced soda. Start with the suggested "sugar-base" recipe, and you may add additional sugar if you want your drink to be sweeter.
