This is an adaptation of a cola flavor that has been floating around the web. They use raw ingredients, but I have changed it up a little to make it friendlier for my friends with Diabetic health issues. You'll probably get better flavor with raw ingredients, but you'll also have a little more inconsistency from batch to
batch depending on the seasonality of your
ingredients. I have family that can’t give up their coke addiction and I figured they are not alone in this, so here my 2 cents on the
problem.
adding in a very floral honey, which seemed to work well for the application.
You'll need:
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger
1-2 drops Pure Anise extract
3 Tbsp. floral Honey or clover Honey
1 Tbsp. Vanilla extract
1 Lemon
1 Orange
1 Lime
1 lb. sugar (2 cups) substitute with agave nectar that you can get in most grocery stores. You will use less of it because it has a very sweet flavor but is healthier for you. It will tell you on the container the amount to use for 2 cups.
1 tsp. molasses ( this is not one of the best sugars for diabetics but you are using just a little just for flavor…)
2 cups water
Top up to 1 gallon with carbonated water
To begin, zest and juice all three citrus fruits, keep the zest and juice separate. In a saucepan, combine the zests, and the three spices with the 2 cups water.
Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Strain out the particulates add the sugar and molasses to the flavor infused water. Heat to blend in the agave. Allow to cool and then add the honey, vanilla, anise extract, and citrus juices. Add syrup to carbonated water and there you have homemade cola!
This won't be a direct copy of Coke or Pepsi, because it does not contain the phosphoric acid.
For a closer match to the cola flavor, you need to get phosphoric acid, but it must be a USP or Food Grade. Check in the book Fix the Pumps discusses this somewhat, or the author's website, Art of Drink has some resources available as well, it's not the safest stuff to play with if you don't know what you're doing. Certainly adding some citric acid will help get some extra bite into your cola, but the phosphoric acid is the real deal.