10.02.2008

 

Blackberry syrup

I think blackberry Italian sodas are just about my favorite drink, besides coffee, of course. Unfortunately for me, it's next to impossible to find blackberry syrup (I've never seen it sold in a store, only online with shipping charges roughly equal to the price of the bottle itself). We had it in our cafe when I worked at Borders, which is how I got hooked on the darn stuff in the first place, and the only other place I've ever been able to order a blackberry soda is Cheeburger Cheeburger, a chain soda shop/ 50s diner that we don't visit very often because of, well, the heart attacks. They have very evil onion rings.

I recently watched Alton Brown's episode of Good Eats about blueberries, and his final recipe, at first glance almost a throwaway compared to blueberry pie and blueberry coffee cake, was for blueberry sodas made with homemade syrup. My first thought was, "I wonder how well this would work with blackberries?" I used frozen blackberries, since the recipe calls for a lot and I didn't want to spend crazy amounts of money testing this out, but it turned out very well. I even left a review about it on Food Network's website (my first review there!), hoping that other people would be inspired to try different berries. I'm definitely keeping this one in my recipe box on their website.

Incidentally, all you FN junkies out there, have you noticed that Food Network has redone their website? First of all, their main color is now red, as compared to the light green they used to have, which sort of steps up the site, in my opinion. It seems easier to navigate now, and they have a lot of links and suggestions for similar recipes over to the right of each recipe page. And the coolest new thing, which I just noticed, is that they have a tab at the top of the site for In Season Now, so all you Animal, Vegetable, Miracle people can browse to your heart's content to make use of your farmer's market finds. (FYI, I plan to join you in reading this book someday, but it's on a very long list of fun reads that I don't think I'll have time for anytime this decade. Maybe the 2010s will be the decade of pleasure reading for me.)

If I could have only one website, FoodNetwork.com would be it. I get lost there among the gorgeous photographs and methods for creating everything from culinary wonders to the simplest, most delightful little things.

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Comments:

Italian sodas are my favorite drink too, especially when I'm looking for something cold, fresh, and decaf. I actually get raspberry; we're almost drink twins! And the only reason I always get raspberry is because I've never seen blackberry as an option. Have you tried looking at World Market? They always have drink syrups there.
 
You need to come home in July, pick all the blackberries you want, we'll freeze a few gallons and then you will have plenty for your Italian sodas. And I will have fewer blackberry brambles. =}
 
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