Strawberry Soda

Growing up there can be many rules that you do not understand at the time, one rule that my mom had was 'no soda in the house'.  Actually at the time, we were living in Ohio and called it 'pop', but our move to Vermont made us transition to call the fizz drink 'soda'. Anyways, out of all of the rules, this was one of them that I am very glad my parents instated.  Besides being loaded with artificial ingredients (have you ever checked out the label - caramel flavor and high fructose corn syrup? No thank you) it can lead to weight gain, which can then bring on unwanted disease.  Last Christmas my husband received a Soda Stream, one of the best gifts ever, that allowed us to not only make seltzer with the click of a button but also allowed me to experiment in the kitchen.  I love carbonating cucumber or lemon water for a refreshing drink. I recently purchased two pints of strawberries from the fresh market that were unfortunately not that sweet.  Instead of turning them into pie, I opted to make equal parts jam and strawberry syrup.  One basically creates the other so you can get more out of doing less, don't you just love that? 

Strawberry Soda / Strawberry Preserves
Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries, diced (fresh if possible)
1/4 cup sugar*
Chilled seltzer water

Directions: Place strawberries and sugar into a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Over medium heat stir to combine.  Once mixture has started to cook down, mash strawberry with a spoon.  Allow to cook for 15 minutes, which will allow for the syrup to form.  Once done, set aside to cool.  Pour mixture over a fine sieve to separate the syrup from the fruit.  What you will have left is a simple syrup and fruit preserves!  Place the preserves in a canning jar and spread out on toast or add to yogurt.

*Adjust sugar based upon sweetness of the fruit

*Styling and Photography by Alison