Day 60 of our Green Year: Pop, Green Style!

Whoo! Two month anniversary of Our Green Year. Things are going strong for us and really picking up, which is great. Only ten months, or 305 days to go, before Our Green Year comes to an end and Our Green Life begins!

For today, we have decided to make our own soda. We figure that things like Coca-Cola, Pespi and other pops have huge amounts of items that we may not want in our bodies, like Aspartame (which apparently gives tumors to rats). The surprising thing of all this, is that making soda is really easy to do and does not take that much in ingredients.

So, here is how you make it:

1. Get a 4 Liter jug, a washed out milk jug will work great. Then, get a cup of warm (baby bottle warm) water and put 1/8 of a teaspoon of yeast in it. This is important, if you put too much yeast in, your pop will taste funny and the bottle may explode. However, too little and you won't get the "ssss" when you open the jug. Let the water and yeast mix together by sitting on the counter for five minutes.
2. In the jug, put one to two cups of sugar in, depending on how sweet you want it.
3. Put two tablespoons of flavoring in the jug. Most supermarkets will sell this flavoring and it comes in many varieties, from Dr. Pepper and Coke to Grape and Orange.
4. Put the warm water and yeast in the jug.
5. Fill the jug with water until there is a few inches of space at the top.
6. Shake the jug for two minutes.

After you have done that, put it in the fridge for about four to six days so it can carbonate. Check it every so often. If you find that it is very firm (as in hard to push the jug sides together), then open it and let some of the air out to relieve the pressure.

There you have it! All there is to making soda, pretty easy and quick. It should not take you more than ten minutes to do this.

UPDATE: Our biodegradable pens arrived from Grassroots Store, and they are great. You can see our dog Niko also likes them...or how they taste!

Our story was on the radio stations (KBS Radio and Mountain FM) here in the Kootenay region of BC, so that is great!
http://www.mountainfm.net/?q=node/5147

Do you have a pop recipe? Send it to crwbaird@gmail.com and we will put it up. If you have pictures of yourself going green, send that to us too and we will post it on our blog. Our friend Min did, by showing us her new biodegradable bag!