Back in about November of last year (2015) I finally decided to give up my Diet Coke habit. For 30 or more years I had consumed a liter or two every day. It got to the point that I always had a Diet Coke in my hand. Always. I think that is the definition of addiction.
I knew it was bad for me. All the research showed that. However, that is not the way addictions work. The part that pushed me over the edge was worrying, actually more the curiosity, of what the Aspartame was doing to my neurology. Then, there was also the weight thing.
Finally one day I decided that enough was enough and it was time to quit. I tapered for about a week and then went cold turkey.
That is when all hell broke loose. I spent one day kneeling in front of the Porcelain Goddess. My body ached. My head hurt. My brain was spinning. It felt like a really bad case of the stomach flu but it didn’t act like the stomach flu. The aching persisted.
The first week was the worst. After that I was left with head spins and cravings. They hung on for about a month
Two years prior I had heart surgery that had complications. Those complications left me very dependent on Dilaudid, a very potent form of morphine (about six times the potency.) Coming off Aspartame was almost as bad as quitting Dilaudid (not quite). What does that say about Aspartame?
One of the crutches that I used to make sure I didn’t get back on the Diet Coke train was a SodaStream. It gave me that tingly feeling of carbonated water and it gave me something to do with my hands. Along with it I bought some flavoring. But wait! Looking at the ingredients, it wasn’t much better than Diet Coke! 🙁
So . . . onto another search. I discovered that making my own flavorings was much more healthy and tasted better than anything I could buy. Granted, the shelf life is 10 years, but I was okay with that.
Here is my first offering of a healthy syrup for flavoring soda water, made with fresh strawberries and some pomegranate juice. I was going to use a fresh pomegranate, but they don’t seem to be in season. That will have to wait for another day. After all, it is winter in Minnesota.
- Stem and rough chop the strawberries.
- Place the strawberries and juice in a small saucepan.
- Bring them to a gentle boil
- Continue simmering them until the strawberries soften
- Place the liquid in a blender
- Puree the ingredients to a smooth liquid. (Be careful, hot liquids in a blender can be explosive. Ask me how I know.)
- Strain the blended liquid through a sieve. I stacked a six inch strainer on a canning funnel on a pint wide-mouth mason jar which worked great.
- Refrigerate until cool
- Add the syrup to seltzer water to the ratio that you prefer. I prefer lightly flavored, maybe two teaspoons to 8 ounces of seltzer. Other might prefer a 50/50 mix.
I thought I would need to add Stevia or something like that to the mix. However, the two fruits provide a nice combination of tart and sweet.
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