ambrosia: Fizzy Blackberry Limeade

Hello again! In this post, I finally feel like a true food blogger. All my fancy blogging essentials are present: fizzy homemade soda, pretty wooden boards to take photos on, and those birch paper straws that everyone, including me, seems to have become obsessed with. I mean seriously, these birch straws are featured in nearly so many food blogs lately, that they seem to be a drink post essential. I finally made my first (yes, my FIRST) Etsy purchase the other day, and I bought nothing more than a bunch of pretty paper straws, some in birch and some in more colorful stripes. It was about time I jumped on the Etsy/paper straws/cute props bandwagon and I'm glad I did. My birch pattern straws are adorable and they make my sodas look fancy. My paper straws make me feel like I'm one of the cool kids. Anyway. As abnormally excited as I am about these paper straws, I'm much more excited to share this awesome drink recipe with you guys. Fizzy blackberry limeade. How good does that sound? The answer, my friends, is really good. It should sound really good because it totally is.

I got the idea to make this particular soda after watching Bobby Flay make a homemade raspberry ginger ale. It looked so simple and refreshing that I decided I needed to make my own, but my way. Instead of going with raspberry and ginger as my main flavors, I used one of my favorite combinations instead: blackberry and lime. Now, I know that I only recently posted another dessert using that same combination, but once I got the idea in my head to make this soda, I just couldn't see it coming together any other way. I've always loved blackberry limeade, and for me, it really just screams summer and refreshing.

While I chose to use blackberry limeade as my starting point, you can certainly feel free to use any other flavor combination you like. Fizzy lemonade with raspberries could be delicious, and creating a fizzy orange soda would be delicious too. I loved this version though. It was refreshing and effervescent, and just the perfect summer drink. The recipe below makes a lot of the lime simple syrup, but you can also use it for a lot of other things. One of my favorite ways to use simple syrup, aside from using it to flavor drinks, is to use it to sweeten fruit that might not be as sweet as I would like it to be. I'm sure this has happened to everyone, where you think a melon, papaya, or pineapple that you've bought looks perfectly ripe and ready to eat, but then after slicing it up you realize that the flavor is just not quite there. While this is always a little disappointing, it's nothing a little drizzle of simple syrup can't fix, especially when it's flavored with citrus.

This fizzy blackberry limeade is my new summer favorite. It takes hardly any effort to prepare and is so delicious. It's a perfect way to use up berries that are slightly past their prime, since they get macerated and lightly smashed, and they look so pretty floating at the top of the glass once the club soda is added. Finished off with a slice of lime, this drink is perfect for easy summer entertaining. Enjoy!

Fizzy Blackberry Limeade
recipe inspired by Bobby Flay

Ingredients

For the Lime Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 lime
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

For the Blackberries

2 cups blackberries
1 tablespoon sugar

cold club soda

Directions

In a saucepan set over medium heat, combine the water and sugar, and heat until the sugar has dissolved and has thickened the water slightly. Remove from the heat,add the lime zest, and allow the syrup to cool to room temperature. Once cool, stir in the fresh lime juice. Pass the syrup through a strainer into a small pitcher, and chill in the fridge until cold.

While the syrup is chilling, macerate the blackberries by combining the berries and sugar in a small bowl, and allow them to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

To assemble the sodas, divide the blackberries among six glasses, and mash them slightly with a spoon.