“Drink a tree” on your next camping trip, recommend the Half Pints

We had a great surprise here this week: This soda was killer. Everyone tasted it and everyone gushed.

This would be the perfect fun activity for camping.

This would be the perfect fun activity for any time at all.

It surprised us because we’ve fussed with pine quite a bit and have had varying results in getting the pine flavor into water. It is easily done as a tea but a soda requires a very strong flavor in the syrup, so strong that you can still taste it when you dilute it with the carbonated water.

I have managed “hints” of pine in soda but nothing very satisfying, until now.

The key really is fresh, new growth pine needles, needles you are likely to find when you’re out camping in the early summer.

Rough chop them on a cutting board to increase their surface area and I add just enough boiling water to submerge them. I stir in some sugar and I cover the pot with a lid and let it steep overnight. I used white sugar so that no other flavor would be competing with the pine but you could use honey.

This was one heck of a gourmet soda.

You need to try it.

My boys enjoy it so much that they made a little video about it. (Wait for that ending…)

Pine Needle Soda Syrup Ingredients

• One cup pine needles, rough-chopped
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar

Pine Needle Soda Syrup Steps

1. Chop pine needles
2. Bring water to boil, pour over needles into a saucepan.
3. Add sugar to needle mixture and stir.
4. Cover the saucepan with a lid and let it sit overnight.
5. Strain the needles from the liquid, retaining the liquid to use as a syrup.

Add syrup to your soda to taste. With this syrup you may need to add more to your soda than you do with some of the commercial soda syrups. Experiment until you find a proportion that works for you.

One quick tip: If you’re drinking the soda through a straw and you use the straw to blow extra bubbles into the soda, you could end up with it up your nose….