DIY Cola (Part 2)

In 2022, I blogged about our first approach to produce soft drinks like Cola, Fanta, Sprite on our own. This is an add-on article which explains an alternative recipe for the Cola part. While the previous recipe is really good, we wanted to try out a second approach where Artemisia abrotanum, the southernwood, lad's love, or southern wormwood is an ingredient.

In German, this is called Eberraute but it's inofficial German name is the more fun here: "Cola-Kraut". If you find it in nature, you need to smell it: it will remind you of Cola.

So here's the recipe for this variant:

• 2 liters (8 ½ cups) of water
• 6 sprigs of cola herb (Artemisia abrotanum)
• ⅔ of a vanilla bean
• 1 stick of cinnamon bark
• 2 sprigs of peppermint
• A small piece of fresh ginger
• 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) of refined sugar
• 40 grams (about 3 tablespoons) of citric acid
• Juice of one orange, one lemon and one lime
• Peel of orange, lemon and lime (needs to be organic)
• A pinch of each:
  • nutmeg
  • licorice root
  • coriander seeds
  • cloves
  • cardamom
  • lemon verbena (optional)
• 180ml of caramel coloring (optional)

And this is how it's done: mix up the sugar with the water and heat it up until it boils. Add the crushed spices and the citric acid. Let it simmer for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Let the whole thing cool down again. Then add the juices, the peels.

Rip off the green parts of the cola herb and add it to the mix.

Let it soak for at least 48 hours and make sure that the herbs are covered with the liquid. Stir it up from time to time.

Remove the non-liquid parts and squeeze out the liquids before tossing them away.

Optionally add the caramel coloring in order to get the black color, if you like.

Use an etamine or cheesecloth to filter the result.

Boil the liquid again for a couple of minutes. Put it into sterilized glass bottles while it's still hot.

We've heard that 2 drops of formic acid should round up the taste. We haven't tested this yet.

The resulting syrup can be mixed with the quantity of water or soda of your choice: sweet or not so sweet. I personally like to mix it with hot water in the cold season as well.

Enjoy!