Overloaded with Blueberries? Make Your Own Blueberry Soda

Make blueberry soda from scratch! Use up blueberries from the freezer or food storage and create a delicious summer treat for your kids!

Make blueberry soda from scratch! Use up blueberries from the freezer or food storage and create a delicious summer treat for your kids!

We still have some blueberries left from a harvest a few summers ago (and yes, they’re STILL good in the freezer!) and I didn’t want to waste them. We didn’t get to pick blueberries this year because the field we usually pick from was devastated by a spring hailstorms, and had a very short season. So while I want to hoard these, it’s best we get them used up.

Typically, blueberries get used in fruit smoothies such as a PB&J smoothie, or Blueberry Banana smoothie, or just a straight mixed berry smoothie or into the dehydrator. We also bake with it a lot, but I’m not wanting to turn on the oven any time soon for baked goods in this heat! I’m going to be on the lookout for a good freezer pop recipe, but today, I think we’re going to make some Blueberry Soda!

Here’s the recipe we based these off of:

Blueberry Soda by Alton Brown @ Food Network

Ingredients

  • 20 ounces fresh blueberries, approximately 4 cups, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups water
  • 7 ounces sugar
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • Carbonated water

Directions

  1. Place the blueberries and the water into a medium saucepan, set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
  2. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the mixture into a colander lined with cheesecloth that is set in a large bowl.
  4. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
  5. Gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible. (Then let it sit for a little while and do it again, and again until there is no juice coming. Don’t waste a single drop!)
  6. Discard the skin and pulp. (OR .. dehydrate it and make blueberry powder!)
  7. Return the blueberry juice to the saucepan along with the sugar and lime juice.
  8. Place over medium high heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  9. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.
  10. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof glass container and place in the refrigerator, uncovered, until completely cooled.

To Serve Blueberry Soda

Combine 1/4 cup of the liquid with 8-ounces of carbonated water and serve over ice.

Our notes

  • We found we had to add more blueberry ‘juice’ to the mix to make it more pleasing to our palettes, ie. sweet tooth.
  • Also note, that if you don’t have cheesecloth and use a tea towel of your own, it will stain.
  • This recipe made enough for 6 glasses of soda because we used a little extra for each of our glasses to make it more sweet and blueberry tasting. It seems like a lot of work for so little, but it was a super treat for a hot summer’s day, and the kids LOVED it.

Additional Resources:

Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook – even if you don’t decide to make blueberry soda, you can preserve your blueberries in more ways than just freezing. The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook is the most used book on my bookshelf!

Homemade carbonated soda: Take it up a notch and learn to make carbonated sodas from scratch.

Pick Your Own Blueberries: Find a way to increase your food storage by picking your own fruits and vegetables?

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Make blueberry soda from scratch! Use up blueberries from the freezer or food storage and create a delicious summer treat for your kids!

Make blueberry soda from scratch! Use up blueberries from the freezer or food storage and create a delicious summer treat for your kids!

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Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.

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