This week I had the pleasure of making homemade root beer with Tim's 80-something-year-old Grandma. She was raised during the depression and has the best stories from the era. She is sharp as a tack and remembers everything from her childhood. I could spend hours listening to her talk about the farm in South Dakota, and the bizarre foods they had to consume during the bad months.
She is an avid canner, pickler, and root beer extraordinaire. She even has her original bottle capper from the 1930s (which we used!) Even my kids joined in on the fun, and it became a wonderful family experience. Don't worry, the recipe is easily available on the internet so you to can make the same rootbeer we made, this is the recipe we used: McCormick's Root Beer Recipe.
You need a GIANT crock pot to make 5 gallons of rootbeer. Of course you will also need something to put all your finished rootbeer in, I suggest drinking a large amount of New Castle Beer (YUM, Thank you United Kingdom!) as they work perfectly for bottling.
The only thing about making root beer that made me cringe was the fact that it called for 5 pounds of sugar. If you are a health nut at all, that may be a turn off.. but at least it's no high fructose corn syrup?
August had a blast stirring, as he loves to cook. I got several shots of him staring at the sugar, asking when he could drink it.
My arms were a bit sore after bottling like 4 dozen bottles (good thing my Fellas helped.) Everyone passed around a bottle to sample the goodness. It actually was not very good, and just tasted like sugar water, as it needs to age and ferment for a week or so. It just tasted like really flat warm root beer. But August loved it, and I guess that is what really matters. I can't wait we get to pick it up on Monday and have a real taste! I will likely blog about its amazingness when the time comes.
If you are looking for a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon, I suggest making your own root beer. It was loads of fun and sure to be tasty.
Also, it's my 100th post! This little blog is really coming along I would say.
Thank you to all my readers for being so wonderful and makign this all happen.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Old Fashioned Root Beer, and My 100th Post
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13 comments:
aw looks like you had a good time making it!
Looks fun!
Around where I live, the Amish are very big into making their own root beer! You can pretty much buy some down any back road you travel on! The stuff isn't your normal store bought kind either, it's extremely strong with a bit of a kick to it!
Great blog. Check mine out if you get a chance!
I can NOT believe you made your own root beer! That thought has never even crossed my mind before! I cant wait to hear how it turns out. Oh, and your son is adorbs!
When I was little my mom used to make root beer on the stove. But it wasn't as nice as what you guys did this weekend. We used to stick it in the fridge in a pitcher, and it just tasted like flat root beer. But I remember really liking it, lol =)
How fun that you all bottled it and everything!
Ooh, thanks for the recipe. We frequent a few places that make homemade root beer and sasparilla. My husband, being the chef that he is, would love to try his hand at it. And bulk quantities is his specialty!
Hello from Newcastle in the UK!
Round here we call a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale either "Broon" or "Dog" as the traditional excuse menfolk gave their wives when sloping off for a drink was "I'm just off to walk the dog..."
I love your blog, congrats on your 100th post x
What a neat thing to make! How neat to have someone in your life that you can talk to about that era!
Perfect for the 4th of July weekend, too!
Looks like a lot of fun! I'm probably one of the few people who do not like root beer - but I would help drinking the New Castle!
Wow, now that is commitment! I don't think I have ever drunk root beer, so perhaps I could have a go at making it, then I wouldn't know if I got it wrong!
I love your look and your tattoos are great too! x
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