In February I got my Amazon.com credit for all of the product referrals I did over the holidays for GeekMom. It was a very generous payout and we bought some goodies such as a pressure cooker, a hangar for our family’s running medals, and a Soda Stream.

We got a very basic Soda Stream model, which included the carbonator with CO2 tank, one 1L bottle and a sampler pack of flavor syrups.

The system is very straightforward, and doesn’t even require electricity: screw a water-filled bottle to the carbonator and depress a button on top to carbonate to the level you desire (they recommend depressing the button three times, we’re still trying to figure out how much carbonation we actually like).

We all tasted several of the sample syrups that came with the system and they’re pretty good. Dave noticed that all the syrups were surprisingly low-calorie and upon further investigation, we noticed that they ALL had sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda).

The other flavors are more natural than the colas you would buy at the grocery store: sweetened with cane sugar, instead of high fructose corn syrup.

But everything having that sucralose in it doesn’t sit well with me. It’s as if Soda Stream has some sort of drug deal with the company that makes/markets Splenda.

I can’t stand the taste of it, and I don’t need my kids having it. Dave likes some products that have it; he claims he doesn’t taste the same metallic flavor that I do. The kids don’t drink soda often, I don’t mind if it has a full sugar amount.

I turned to my good friend Pinterest for homemade Soda Stream syrup ideas. If you’re on Pinterest, it’s easy to find anything of that sort, and I had no problem finding classic recipes for ginger ale, cherry limeade and root beer. I’m looking forward to trying some of those, especially strawberry soda when the kids and I go picking next week!

I wonder if I can use the blueberry syrup I made last year?

I also found a good idea for using unflavored Kool Aid packets with simple syrup to make mixes for orange and grape soda. Grape soda is Timmy’s favorite. This is what I’m going to share with you. I had found this Pinterest pin in reference to using the syrup for shave ice, so I did some experimenting and adapted the recipe for Soda Stream.

Here is the pin, but the link is just to the picture of the three bottles.

Soda Stream Syrup with Kool-Aid

One packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid (any flavor)
3/4 c. water
2 c. sugar
Storage container <– I use a one-quart Ziploc screw top soup container

In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar into the water. Remove from heat and SLOWLY add the Kool Aid mix and allow to cool before transferring to a storage container. I was able to make about 16 oz. of syrup.

To refrigerate or not to refrigerate, that is the question. The Pinterest pin says to refrigerate, but I had a hard time dissolving the syrup that way. It seemed better if I kept the syrup room temperature, but I recommend using the syrup in a week or less.

I had to do some experimenting before I came up with an amount. I recommend 3 oz. for a 1/2 L. bottle of soda and 6 oz. for a full liter. Add the syrup VERY slowly, and tilt the soda bottle before adding the syrup.

Do you have a Soda Stream? Do you have any homemade recipes? Feel free to share them in the comments!