Sodastream - Make Your Own Soda

Your Happy Hearts has told you time and time again in previous posts to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup and Aspartame for many health reasons. So what if you love pop and are having a hard time giving it up? Almost all sodas, with the exception of Coke from Mexico, is made with HFCS. Sodastream is your answer. All Sodastream mixers are made with real sugar. The diets, with Splenda instead of the nasty Aspartame.

So how does this work?

Sodastream is your own "at home" soda maker. The Fountain Jet Soda Maker shown here retails for $99.95 and comes with your choice of color, two - 1 liter refillable bottles, and a heavy 60 liter carbonator tank.

The carbonator is placed in the back of the soda maker. By pushing the lever at the front, the attached straw tilts forward and you screw on a bottle filled with chilled water. (I use water right from my refrigerator door as it has been chilled already.) Once the bottle is screwed on tight, you release the lever which puts the bottle down straight. This process can be somewhat tricky. Screwing on the bottle really needs both hands. Hold the water bottle at the bottom with one hand and the maker in the other. My personal thought is the lever should stay titled back on it's own till you are done. With a little practice it can be done, but not the smoothest process.

Press the button on the top of the machine in quick short presses and the long straw kicks out carbon. Around 10 pumps the machine will make a loud beeping or buzzing sound. Three buzzes and the water is carbonated to a regular store soda. More pumps and you can get extra fizz. I stay around one buzz as I don't like heavily bubbled soda. Too much bloating.

Once it is to your desired fizz, tilt out the bottle and the CO2 is released making a loud hissing sound. Unscrew and your bubbles start to flow. Then simply add the flavor of your choice.

Be careful to follow the rules on this one and add it to a slanted bottle. Dumping it in quickly, straight on, will cause an overflow effect as if you shook up the soda. Believe me, I know this from experience. Screw the lid onto the bottle and rotate it back and forth gently to mix in the flavor. In only a matter of minutes you have sodapop. It's as easy as making Kool-Aid.

Flavors retail for only $4.99 on the Sodastream website and make 6/2 liters or 12 Sodastream bottles. This figures out to only $0.83 cents per 2 liter. We also found some flavors to be too strong for us, so we used half the recommended amount. Which makes your flavors last longer and produce more pop for less cost. No deposits or the hassle of taking back returns. These flavors can be purchased at your local grocery store and there are MANY to chose from. My favorite being the Cranberry Raspberry and Rootbeer.

The Carbonation tanks are much like a propane tank. You must return your empty for a refilled tank. You can easily do this through the Sodastream site. Purchasing two at a time would always leave you with a spare.

Your Happy Hearts always promotes Clean Eating of unprocessed foods and fresh beverages. As this is still not an "organic" choice, it may be a better choice for your family than the HFCS soda from the store. There are also flavored juice concentrates so you can have sparkling water with a little fruit flavor. Another healthier alternative is to be creative. Cut up ginger root and add it to sparkling water and make Gingerale.

What we personally love about the Sodastream is having 8 or so flavors on hand in the cupboard. When company/family comes over, you are always prepared to serve up beverages. Not all friends and family are on the same health journey you are. So without spending money on 2 liters that sit flat in your fridge, you can make the soda as needed. It's a great concept and YHH is happy to have it in the kitchen.