Italian Soda with House Raspberry-Vanilla Syrup

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The tall, candy-bright coffeehouse soda, rebuilt from scratch: real raspberries simmered with sugar and vanilla bean into a glossy syrup, then stretched with hard-chilled seltzer over ice. A splash of cream floated on top turns it into the creamsicle-pink version. One 15-minute batch of syrup makes about five sodas and keeps for weeks.

Ingredients

• 12 oz fresh or frozen raspberries
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 whole vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp citric acid (optional, for soda-fountain tang)

• 3 tbsp raspberry-vanilla syrup, chilled
• 8 oz club soda or seltzer, very cold
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream or half-and-half, optional
• 1 strip lemon peel or a few fresh raspberries, for garnish

Instructions

1. Combine the raspberries, sugar, water, split vanilla bean (scrape the seeds in and drop in the pod), and salt in a small nonreactive saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes.
2. Bring to a bare simmer, then lower the heat so it barely bubbles. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, mashing the berries lightly against the side of the pan two or three times, until the liquid is deep ruby and lightly thickened. Do not let it boil hard — a rolling boil dulls the fresh fruit flavor and cooks the syrup toward jam.
3. Remove from the heat and let stand 10 minutes to steep. Fish out the vanilla pod.
4. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the syrup through. Let it drip on its own for 5 minutes, then press gently with the back of a spoon — pressing hard forces pulp through and makes a cloudy syrup. You should have about 1 1/4 cups. Discard the seeds and pulp.
5. Stir in the lemon juice and the citric acid, if using (it sharpens the fruit and mimics that clean commercial fizz-drink bite). Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least 1 hour, until fully cold. Warm syrup kills carbonation on contact.
6. To build each soda: fill a 16-ounce glass to the top with ice. Pour 3 tablespoons cold syrup over the ice.
7. Tilt the glass and pour 8 ounces of very cold club soda slowly down the inside wall, or over the back of a bar spoon, to keep the bubbles intact. Fill to about 1 inch below the rim.
8. Stir once with a long spoon — just one full turn from the bottom up, so the color ribbons through without flattening the fizz.
9. For a cream version, float 1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream or half-and-half over the top and let it swirl down on its own. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel or a few raspberries and serve immediately with a straw.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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