Best Lemon Soda Ever!

Alrightly boys and girls, today is a simple but very flavorful post.

I love lemon, but usually savory applications. Lemon soda happens to be one of those few lemony things that I do like sweet, but I am not a big fan of paying 4 dollars a bottle for the Italian Soda at a couple of the local chain stores. I also don't care much for the high fructose corn syrup that floods the canned stuff. So I make my own. You can too...

What you will need:

A 500ml bottle of Perrier or some other carbonated belly wash.
100 ml of simple syrup or some equivalently sweet sweetener (If you didn't know, simple syrup is equal  parts water and sugar heated until the sugar is completely dissolved.)
40ml fresh squeezed lemon juice, seeds bad, pulp good.

What to do:

Mix the lemon juice and syrup in a container large enough to hold all of the liquid such as a 3 or 4 cup measuring cup.
Slowly, so very very slowly, pour the carbonated water into the juice/syrup mix. I also recommend pouring gently. DO NOT STIR. I say this from vast and messy experience. Pour slowly and gently. If you missed the previous sentence it bares repeating, pour slowly and gently. In all seriousness you can have an spill over, if you just dump the water in on the syrup. Because we are using simple syrup, instead of just plain table sugar the beverage will actually mix just by pouring the larger volume of water into the lemon/syrup. The release of the bubbles helps mix also.

My final step is to use a funnel and pour the newly mixed beverage back into the bottle. A little care is warranted here as well. You now have 640ml of soda and a 500ml bottle. For the mathematically challenged 640 is bigger than 500. It's not all gonna fit Once the bottle is full, pour the remaining lemony libation into a glass with some ice and consume.

Final thoughts:
If the lemon/syrup mix and the carbonated water are very cold they mix easier without as much fizzing, saving the bubbles to go up your nose.
Strong flavored juices work well for this beverage... 
(Reduce a cup of fresh orange juice by half over medium heat then chill completely before mixing... Moderate the sweetness by adding the sugar after mixing the orange juice and carbonated water.)

You can do a lot different flavors like this, just remember the flavor will dilute in the water so make it strong to stand up.

Let me know what you like to mix up.

Oh and sorry for the lack of pictures. I was lazy...

Cheers

Chris.