The Artisan Soda Workshop Apricot Soda

After my failed Fresca attempt from The Artisan Soda Workshop. I was a little pickier about what I would make for my second attempt. I chose apricot-cinnamon syrup without the cinnamon. I have been looking for a good apricot syrup recipe for a while and loved that this recipe used dried apricots to make the soda. I thought that was quite genius so I gave it a shot.

The Recipe

In a medium pot combined 10-12 dried diced apricots with 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup brown sugar. If you want a cinnamon version, throw the sticks in now.

Put the pot over high heat and bring to a boil.

Stir to dissolve the sugar and reduced heat to medium to simmer until the apricots are plump and tender. Around 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and if you added cinnamon sticks, remove them. Smash apricots with masher and let sit 10 minutes.

With a sieve, remove fruit from the liquid. I pushed down a lot to get the apricots to release their liquid.

Wow, not a lot of syrup! Let cool and refrigerate in a covered container up to five days. If you are using cinnamon, add the sticks back in to add extra flavour.

I successfully made carbonated water with U-Fizz (review to come).

To make the drink, stir in 2 tbsp of apricot syrup to…

10 oz/1 1/4 cup seltzer.

Foodie Results

Very pleasant but so subtle. I think if I had added the cinnamon stick, that would have been all I tasted and I wanted apricot. It was there but so gentle, I was underwhelmed. This was also on the verge on really being under-sweet. This is more like a bubbly water than what I consider a soda.

It was a lot of work for little yield. I had enough syrup to make just two glasses. I ended up putting the rest in a mango smoothie instead. Such a shame, I really thought there would be a nice apricot flavour but it was so light, I would not go to the effort of making this again.

What bothers me most is I feel the book is being marketed to people who like classic soda pop flavours and want to make the real deal themselves in their own kitchens yet I suspect this is healthier-beverage cookbook in disguise.

Some will like this recipe but for me, I give it a bland three out of five wooden spoons.