Bootleg Soda: Pumpkin Cream Soda

So, we got one of those SodaStream machines at HQ. We liked being able to carbonate our own water, but we didn't much like the syrups you could buy for it. So we started making our own! Now, several hundred huge kitchen messes later, we've released a new Smart Aleck's Guide called Bootleg Soda! It's a collection of more than 100 recipes for homemade soda syrups, including basics like orange and cola, as well as nifty ones like pumpkin root beer, peach habanero, chai cola, cucumber pineapple, and the delicious celery delorean. Also included are 50+ formulas for old-timey soda fountain drinks like the centura phosphate, the kiss me flip, and more, with tons of history, commentary, vintage illustrations (many featuring stupid historical hats) and a guide to old time soda jerk slang.

We'll put up a new excerpt here every day this week, starting with....

The Smart Aleck’s Guide to Bootleg Soda: 100+ Homemade Soda Syrup Recipes, plus 50+ classic fountain drink formulas. Just $2.99 on Kindle

PUMPKIN CREAM SODA Pumpkin Vanilla is a flavor you see a lot in candles down at Bath and Body Works, so why not make it into a soda? Hey, why not make everything that makes a good candle into a soda? Why aren’t we making “Twilight Woods” or “Island Path” sodas? Why not “Moonlit Path” or “Fresh Linen?” Well, there’s always volume two. For now, though, a vanilla pumpkin syrup actually made for a delicious soda that we highly recommend. Smoother and sweeter than the regular pumpkin spice soda, which is also tasty.  Pumpkin flavors in drinks and pastries and room scents are getting more and more popular these days, but a great many pumpkin products aren’t using any real pumpkin at all - lots of them just use cinnamon and clove flavors and call it “pumpkin.” This syrup is for real! You can leave the pumpkin out and just use cinnamon and cloves if you like, and the results will actually have a familiar “pumpkin” taste, but you can taste the difference when you use a bit of the real thing. Ingredients: 1 cup water 3 teaspoons canned pumpkin 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1.5 teaspoons ground cloves 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups of sugar Directions: Mix together all ingredients except the sugar into in a saucepan and boil, stirring well to dissolve the pumpkin. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for twenty minutes. Enjoy the aroma. Think of Halloweens past. Try to remember the name of that Halloween cartoon where the characters are all in monochrome and a witch turns kids into real werewolves and ghosts (it was Witch’s Night Out). Add a bit more spice if you want, and if you want to use whole cloves, vanilla beans, and cinnamon sticks, you do it, brother.  Strain the liquid. Even if you’re using ground spices, you’ve got to strain this one or you’ll get a sort of chalky syrup.  Measure out the remaining liquid and put it into a clean saucepan, then mix in two parts sugar to one part of the liquid (ie, if you have one cup of liquid, add two cups of sugar). Dissolve sugar by bringing the liquid to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat as soon as it starts to boil, then  let it cool into syrup.  Mix one part syrup with 4-8 parts carbonated water, garnish with candy corn zest. (note: We also ended up doing a Twilight Woods flavor. Get the recipe in The Smart Aleck’s Guide to Bootleg Soda)