I read a lot of blogs that fit this criteria. You find that when you search out individuals with a gluten free eating plan (that write about it) there is a huge cross over with dairy free, generally grain free, egg free, nut free, refined sugar free, allergen free, and the list goes on. Paleo eating plans are also popular as they introduce very few inflammatory agents into the body, and some individuals with gluten sensitivity find that enough damage has been done to their insides to be exceptionally sensitive to highly processed foods, or foods with certain ingredients, even ones without gluten.
In addition, though some products claim that they are gluten free, its only because they have been tested to be below a certain threshold for gluten. The threshold is a number that is below the level that many bodies would register, or would be so minimal in damage as to be safe to most consumers. Not everyone has such a tolerance for even such a tiny amount, though. On top of this, individuals that have been gluten free for longer than I have were once faced with shelves that had no warnings of glutinous ingredients, and certainly no options that were both palatable and truly gluten free. The number of gluten intolerant individuals that are aware of their condition has grown so rapidly in the last decade that food manufacturers have finally caught up. We're a niche market, and we're a community to make a profit on.
I found this article to be exceptionally informative for the way that gluten intolerance is slowly becoming a relative norm as far as American lifestyles are concerned.
General Mills producing gluten free products is fabulous on some level, but a little worrying on another. One of the wonderful things about going gluten free initially, before I discovered products that had any taste quality to them, was that I had to almost entirely steer clear of the aisles at the store. If you stick the peripheries of produce, dairy, and meat, your eating is much more simple. I like simple.
Despite liking simple, I still eat an unfortunate amount of processed foods: candy and soda are two of my weaknesses. One of Michael Pollan's Food Rules (#39) is "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself" (p. 85). This rule haunts me. The Costco-sized bag of milk chocolate peanut butter cups sitting on the kitchen table haunts me. The bottle of store brand cola sitting in the fridge haunts me. The bag of tortilla chip remains sitting on our "pantry" shelf haunt me.
Everytime I make something, though, life feels a little simpler. The pear cake Patrick made a week ago, the beet chips and kale chips I make, the oatmeal made without sugar sitting in the bowl next to me: these are simple things in my mind.
If I were to make my own soda out of my own simple ingredients, life would feel simpler still.
To many people, it just sounds like more work, which might be considered less simple. I don't mind more work in the kitchen... Keep in mind that this is partly because I don't do dishes. Thank goodness Patrick loves my cooking so much or there would be a serious rebellion on my hands.
Maybe he'll love my soda too.
All this, though, is really inspired by the fact that the Costco near us is finally carrying Soda Stream. This is a mechanism that carbonates water. All you need to make soda is carbonated water and flavored syrup. While Soda Stream has their own flavored syrups, I'll admit that they aren't very good. With our Soda Stream we got a sample pack, and none of them have been akin to even store brand flavors. All flavors, even non-diets, have sucralose in them. Sucralose, while not aspartame, still gives a diet after taste. According to my friend who has had one of these for quite some time (and is the reason I lusted after one myself) even diet drinkers don't like the diet flavors. This doesn't mean I haven't drank them, though. A carbonated beverage is a carbonated beverage, afterall.
It has, however, made me think about what I could make instead. I personally like just plain carbonated water, or lightly flavored carbonated water. The first night we had it I cut up half of an orange and half of a lemon and put these in the carbonated water to provide a hint of citrus.
I searched for real Coca Cola brand syrup, and while you can technically buy it, its in a huge quantity. You can buy cola syrup in bottles from a number of places, but this searching made me start thinking of all the other flavors out there in the world. Why stop at such a traditional flavor as cola? There are many odd flavored sodas that I really like, Lavender or Juniper Berry Dry Soda being two of them. I've had celery soda in the past, too (Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Soda). Jones soda, though I'm not a huge fan, has gone as far in past years as making Turkey flavored soda during the holidays. I've not had the "pleasure" of that personally, though.
And so, the internet research began. If you search "flavored simple syrup" you get a lot of recipe hits on Google. If you just search for "flavored syrup" you get a lot of product hits on Google. Most simple syrup recipes are meant to be used in alcohol, but its very clearly the case that one doesn't have to mix them with anything more than water, iced tea, or carbonated water. One alcoholic beverage idea that I came across, though, gave me some inspiration. I had already found a recipe for cardamom simple syrup, but this idea put it over the top: "For a cocktail party a few years ago, I made a rum punch spiked with ginger-cardamom syrup, for example. To make the ginger-cardamom syrup, I grated the ginger and cracked open the cardamom pods before adding them to the sugar and water. (You could also discard the pods and just use the seeds.) This syrup is also wonderful with lime juice and sparkling water as a non-alcoholic cocktail."
Yep, Cardamom Ginger Soda. I was sold on that idea.
We bought whole cardamom pods and had a large piece of ginger in the refrigerator from a recipe we made. I broke open probably 10 of the pods in a small bowl and Patrick finely grated about a half a tablespoon of our fresh ginger. It was a fine grate but we also have a fine mesh strainer we can use to get the bits out. Even if we couldn't get all the bits out we wouldn't be concerned. Our favorite ginger sodas leave ginger remains in the bottle (the ginger-y-ness simply enhances with time).
Here are my cardamom seeds:
2 parts sugar, 1 part water in a pan and bring to a boil. Add ingredients, and remove from heat. Transfer to a glass container that will be air tight when closed. Allow to cool.
Strain out bits.
This proved delicious; even moments after I had taken the pot from the burner the syrup already had excellent flavor. When added to carbonated water in a small amount it is a warm but refreshing taste. Patrick doesn't agree. When added in high quantity its like a ginger soda with a hint of cardamom. The flavors are really quite complimentary. I will mention, though, that the flavor is light. If you're looking for a ginger soda like Vernors or, my personal favorite, Fentimans, this isn't it. In our next attempt we will be more thoroughly crushing the cardamom, adding a higher quantity of both ingredients, and might allow the syrup to sit for about a week if I can handle the anticipation.
I did add a dash of orange juice to my lightly sweetened version and this was absolutely wonderful.
Our next experiment will be with vanilla, orange, and coconut. We will need more sugar before then, though.
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