Raspberry Lime Soda

     After several experiments with homemade soda Tammy requested 'something pink.' She loves all things pink and sweet, so naturally a pink soda would follow. We're hoping to serve a variety of our soda creations at our wedding next fall, or maybe winter, or perhaps spring...?, and some sort of pink beverage will definitely be required.
     Browsing the fruit and vegetable aisles at our local market I settled on raspberries as a good natural pink coloring agent, and also a very tasty fruit. I read up on a couple of raspberry lime rickey recipes and settled on the following ingredients (again, very simple and requires very little prep time):
     -one cup fresh raspberries (intend to try frozen to compare results);
     -one cup sugar;
     -1/2 cup water;
     -juice of 1/2 lime per serving (recipe makes three servings);
     -seltzer or drinking water with which to mix or carbonate.

     The berries, sugar and 1/2 cup water went into our trusty stainless saucepan. I mashed the berries with a wooden spoon and heated while stirring over medium heat until the sugar dissolved then brought to simmer.

     The mixture smelled great and made the kitchen smell like raspberries. I simmered the mixture for 8 minutes to reduce the syrup, then removed from heat and strained through a fine mesh strainer. This yielded one cup of syrup.

     For one serving of soda, mix 1/3 cup of syrup with 1 1/3 cup cold seltzer or water and add the juice of 1/2 lime in your favorite glass, add ice if you wish, and enjoy!

     The result was a dark pink soda that smelled great and had a very clean fruity taste. The scent of the raspberries came through in the final product, and the lime juice added a pleasant tartness that complemented the sweetness of the raspberries. It was a very refreshing and tasty soda ... success! Try at home, and please let us know if you find ways to improve upon this simple soda.