Friday, June 22, 2012

Summer sweets: Homemade Root Beer


We used to spend a lot of time at a coffee & tea shop in my hometown where they served homemade root beer.  I completely forgot about it until recently, and the craving stuck with me.  The other day, I just had to make some for myself.

If you want to make your own, you can find sarsaparilla root extract at most grocery stores.  Mix with sugar and sparkling water (according to package instructions) and you have a refreshing summer treat!  I love how you can control how much "root beer" taste vs. sugar you'd like using this method.


Put freshly mixed jars of soda in a pie-tin filled with ice and serve with small scoops of vanilla ice cream.  These would work great for a weekend BBQ or a gathering on July 4th!

For the stir sticks: start with long strips of aluminum foil.  Create fringe on one side of foil with sharp scissors and roll around the top of a skewer.  Carefully peel the layers of foil to fan out.

Happy weekend!  Up to anything fun?

4 comments:

  1. yum, this sounds great.
    i've been coming up with simple syrup sweet concoctions with our bubble water contraption, but hadn't thought of a homemade root beer.
    love the foil toppers as well.
    off to my nephew's first birthday party this weekend, should be hot, but should be fun.

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  2. I love root beer and last summer I made some (followed a recipe, too!) and it was terrible! This sounds like a much yummier version... I'll have to try it soon!

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    1. Hi Tara! The sarsaparilla root can be really powerful and bitter if you don't add enough sugar! I like making it this way because you can control the amount of sugar vs. the rootbeer syrups you can buy at the store. When in doubt, throw in a little extra of the sweet stuff!

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