What’s the story behind the Slurpee? And, more important, is it possible to make your own without an industrial frozen carbonated beverage machine? In this video, I uncover a longforgotten and expired patent that describes a recipe and method for turning ordinary soda into a Slurpee without any special equipment.

RECIPE
500mL Coca Cola or similar soda (ice cold)
28g Sugar
1.5g Lowmethoxyl pectin: https://amzn.to/3ODUwth
0.4g Guar gum: https://amzn.to/3qylOJw
1.0g Yucca extract: https://amzn.to/3OYE6g9

1. Weigh and combine pectin, guar gum, yucca extract, and sugar. Blend these powders thoroughly, and then add to an empty and dry soda bottle.

2. Pour 100g of ice cold CocaCola into the bottle with the gums and sugar, cap the bottle, and then shake aggressively to disperse the sugar and gums. Refrigerate for 1 hour to allow the gums to rehydrate.

3. Pour out 150g of the remaining CocaCola, then slowly pour in the hydrated gum syrup from step 2 into the bottle. Try to have the gum syrup just flow across the surface of the soda without mixing to avoid the soda foaming up and making a mess.

4. Cap the bottle, shake it vigorously to mix the gum syrup into the remaining soda. You will feel the bottle repressurize. Carefully crack open the bottle slightly to allow CO2 to force all of the air out of the “headspace” above the liquid. Tighten the cap firmly as soon as soda starts to leak out.

5. Freeze for approximately 4 hours, shaking the bottle after the first hour to break up the ice. Shaking the bottle as it freezes from time to time will result in a finer texture of ice. When the bottle feels slushy like it’s filled with heavy wet sand, crack the bottle open to let the DIY slurpee foam up and enjoy.

NOTE: You can use other carbonated sodas, but may need to increase or decrease the amount of additional sugar to achieve a 16 to 18 °Brix sugar concentration in the final recipe.


PRODUCT LINKS
Combustion Predictive Thermometer: https://combustion.inc
Acaia scale: https://acaia.co/collections/coffees...
Alternative scale: https://amzn.to/3R7xzSb
Refractometer: https://amzn.to/3QKX0Zl


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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
2:15 History of the Slurpee
4:15 The frozen carbonated beverage machine (FCB)
5:31 Why does the DIY Slurpee need more sugar?
8:31 Adding plenty of fizzy bubbles
8:58 The (expired) patented idea behind the DIY Slurpee
10:10 Making a DIY Slurpee start to finish

CREDITS
Quillaja saponaria in bloom image by Amber Kerr