Force carbonating some sarsaparilla soda tonight. The tea I made from the Sarsaparilla and orange peel last night was good so I have high hopes. My recipe:

• Roughly 2 tablespoons Sarsaparilla
• about a tablespoon of orange peel
• a teaspoon of vanilla extract (use whole vanilla bean when available, I don’thave any right now)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 5 cups waer

Bring the water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add sarsaparilla and orange peel. Boil for about a minute. Remove heat and cover for 5 minuets or until the tea is cool enough to sample with a spoon. Add the vanilla and sugar. stir to dissolve the sugar. re-cover and allow the tea to cool until it can safely be put in your carbonation vessel. My small batch carbonation system is made from a plastic water filter holder so it has to be pretty cool. Pressurize to 60PSI and shake until the pressure remains mostly constant. Refrigerate, pressurizing periodically. (My carbonation rig won’t fit in the fridge, just the filter part.)

I’ll try a sample when I get home from work tomorrow.

I’m thinking next time I’ll use more sarsaparilla, the non-carbonated version is not as potent as I had thought it would be… we’ll wee how it comes out.