Blood Orange Ice Cream Soda - Herbivore Cucina

The PERFECT combination of blood orange syrup, vanilla ice cream and soda makes this soda float. Addictive yet super easy to make!

The extremely short season for one of Nature's most amazing creation is here! It is officially Blood Orange season and I can never get enough of these beauties. The bright red color juice, the sweet and tart taste and the PERFECT fruit to photograph, I have been in love with these for a couple of years.

This year I shot two recipes using them and this is the first. The second one is coming up really soon too. And i just bought a dozen more of these oranges from the Farmer's Market yesterday. So there will be a couple of more recipes coming up soon.

This recipe is made using a simple syrup that is made from blood oranges and sugar. The syrup is perfect not just for this recipe, but for all recipes that need a blood orange syrup. I like to freeze the syrup in ice cubes so I can use them for a while even when the blood oranges are out of stock everywhere!

Ice Cream Soda has been one of my favorite drinks at most places in India. There it used to be any fruity syrup, vanilla ice cream and soda. Sadly the syrups had no real fruit in them. They were just colored syrups with flavors, but tasted SO good that I never thought of how they were made!

Served in TALL glasses, these were the only beverages I ordered at some of India's famous chain of restaurants. After coming to US I did see a few places selling creamsicle, but it never matched up to what I was looking for. This year I was very keen on making my own version using blood oranges. I love the color of this fruit and the perfect combination it makes with vanilla and soda.

I tried it a couple of times, gobbling down every version in no time. Finally I set the proportions of the syrup, soda and ice cream such that it was not too sweet, not too thin in consistency and not overpowering with one flavor. This is my favorite version that is just right!

Wondering what to do year round when these beauties are not in season? This recipe works great with citrus fruits, berries and even syrups made from flowers. Yet, out of all of these, blood oranges is my favorite!

To make the drink, it would be a great idea to make the syrup before hand and refrigerate or freeze it till ready to use. This drink is great for parties and get togethers too. You can even make a variety of syrups and use them to whip up colorful drinks for the party.

Variations

As I mentioned above, you can use your favorite fruit to make this one. Citrus fruits work great as they have the tart taste to complement the sweet cream and ice cream.

To make a variation of the drink; substitute the club soda with your favorite soda. If that has sugar in it, you can skip the sugar in the fruit syrup. It will be perfectly balanced in sweetness then.

If you are not a fan of whipped cream, just skip that from the recipe. The drink tastes awesome with just the syrup and soda too.

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Ingredients

For the Blood Orange Syrup

Blood Oranges 2

Sugar 1 tsp

For the drink

Blood Orange Syrup ¼ cup

Vanilla Ice Cream 1 scoop

Club Soda 1 cup

Whipped Cream to top

Mint leaves a few

Maraschino cherries 2

Blood Orange Slices a few

Method

To make the Blood Orange Syrup

Juice the Blood Oranges and add sugar to it. It should be about ¾ cups of juice. Boil for 5-6 minutes, till it becomes thickens and becomes about ½ cup. Turn down the flame and cool.