Make Homemade Orangina
Love that tasty bottled carbonated drink called "Orangina"? You can make your very own version of it at home, and the same process can be applied to make a light, carbonated drink out of any fruit juice! It's a healthy and fun way to draw children away from sugary, caffeinated carbonated cola drinks but still give them the fizzy taste they love.
Steps
- Orangina contains 12% fruit juice (10% orange, 2% various citrus varieties). You will need to decide what kind of juice you will use on your creation. Any fruit juice will do, but in general the more liquid the juice (orange as compared to mango, for example) the more "orangina-like" the result.
- Get a soda water siphon. This is also referred to as seltzer water and carbonated water. Making soda water can be done through fermentation using yeast and sugar (as demonstrated in How to Make Cream Soda), but the most effective, efficient and inexpensive way is through forced carbonation using a rechargeable siphon, as shown in the video below. You can buy these from Amazon, cooking utensil stores such as Williams-Sonoma, eBay vendors and other sources. Be careful of used siphons; see the Warnings below.
- Buy CO2 seltzer charger cartridges for the siphon. Most siphons use a standard 8 gram CO2 cartridge. You can get them from the same sources for new siphons, or from mail and online vendors. Stay away from Chinese-made soda charger cartridges, as they have been known to impart a bad taste to the resulting carbonated water due to the use of low-quality CO2 gas.
- Fill the siphon with water. Follow the manufacturer instructions. Siphons should not be filled to the very top. If your tap water does not taste good, neither will the resulting soda water; use filtered or bottled water for best results. Use cold water, or cool the siphon in the refrigerator before using. Warm soda water does not taste good!
- Charge the siphon. Follow the manufacturer's directions and do not overcharge (see the Warnings below).
- Pour a small amount of juice into a glass. Usually a tenth of the volume of the glass will do.
- Fill the rest of the glass with soda water. Be gentle when pressing the siphon's trigger, or else the soda water will come out very fast and spill all over the place. Now you know why being a Soda Jerk was not an easy job. Enjoy!
Tips
- The cost of the siphon has to be calculated into the math as well. A new siphon will cost as little as $43.99 as of March 2010. Assuming the above numbers and comparisons, after the 50th glass of your homemade drink you'll break even.
- The siphon charging cartridges containing the CO2 gas can be bought in quantity. You can buy them online for as little as $0.39 each, and one charge will give you about a liter of soda water, enough for some four or five 8oz glasses of carbonated water or fizzy fruit juice.
- The "fizz" effect in your mouth when drinking a carbonated drink is a result of the very mild carbonic acid (H2CO3) produced when the water is mixed under pressure with carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. This is known as "forced carbonation". Getting the "fizz" requires no sugar, caffeine or any other additives!
- This calculates to about 10 cents per glass plus the cost of the juice. If you buy a 64oz carton of orange juice at the supermarket for $4.00 and use one ounce per glass for fizzy juice, your total estimated cost for the 8oz glass of fizzy juice will be 10.625 cents per glass. Compare that to $1 or more for a twelve ounce can of a sugary, caffeinated carbonated cola drink.
Warnings
- Never overcharge a siphon with too much gas. The addition of more gas will not make better soda water, and it may cause the siphon to explode if it doesn't have an over-pressure release device and cause serious injury to you and/or anyone around you.
- If you buy a used siphon:
- Check to make sure it has all the components and gaskets in good condition.
- If the siphon is made of metal (usually aluminum), inspect the interior with a small flashlight, looking for corrosion or accumulation of foreign matter. If you see any, do not buy the siphon.
- Alternatively, fill it about half full of very hot water, close, and shake it hard. Let it sit for a minute and drain the contents into a glass container of some kind. If you see anything other than water, do not buy the siphon.
- If possible, test it before purchase. If you charge it and then hear a hissing sound, do not buy the siphon.
- Disinfect it before first use with a mild plain bleach solution and rinse thoroughly three or four times before using. You can also use an iodine-based no-rinse disinfectant, such as the one sold in homebrewing stores. Mix the solution according to the instructions, pour into the siphon, shake, drain and let it air-dry upside down.
- Never put anything other than clean, filtered water into the siphon! Attempting to pre-mix the water and juice inside the siphon can result in clogged nozzles, and can also promote the growth of bacteria and fungi inside the container.
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