It’s Soda Time! {How to Make an Old-fashioned Chocolate Ice Cream Soda}

You need just three ingredients to make a delicious old-fashioned chocolate ice cream soda – and a glass full of wonderful, bubbly memories to share.

^{Disclosure: We teamed up with Canada Dry for this post. All images and opinions are my own.}

My brother LA is sixteen years older than me and left for college when I was just two, so the only time I ever saw him when I was little was when he came home for holidays or spring break. Because of our age difference, it would have been easy for us to never have had any kind of real relationship, but LA didn’t let that happen. From the time I can remember, he has always made an effort to make a place for me in his life.

One way he did that was to establish a few simple traditions between us, the most enduring and dear to me being our Soda Time.

Whenever he came home, LA would always make us chocolate ice cream sodas. It was our thing. Soda Time was the one time I had my big brother all to myself, and as I grew up, it became a tradition that – to this day – I look forward to with great anticipation.

I’m pretty sure I drove my mom and dad nuts back when I was a kid, because whenever I caught wind that LA was on his way home, I’d make one of them go up to Freddy’s to get the Canada Dry, chocolate syrup, and ice cream so that we had everything we needed when he arrived.

LA always made a big, fun production of making our sodas, what with his special soda-mixing skills and spoon flourishes and all. He also taught me that you can’t just dump everything into a tall glass and call it good: making a perfect old-fashioned ice cream soda requires some finesse.

How to Make an Old-fashioned Ice Cream Soda

For each soda, you will need:

2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream
6-8 ounces Canada Dry Club Soda or Seltzer Water [Original flavor] (We prefer Club Soda)
2-3 tablespoons chocolate syrup

First, find a suitable vessel. A soda glass is perfect, of course, but if you’re short on those, you can use any large, tall glass. (You can even do what my brother and I do when we’re feeling lazy and make a soda-in-a-bowl.)
Next, drop one scoop of ice cream into the bottom of the glass and pour about 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup on top.
Use a soda spoon to squish and mash and mix everything around until the ice cream and the chocolate syrup become a sort of chocolate ice cream slurry.
Now comes the tricky part: you need to take a soda spoon in your dominate hand and stir constantly while you very slowly pour club soda or seltzer water into the glass with your other hand. Continue adding seltzer until the glass is about three-fourths full.
Taste the soda to make sure it’s chocolaty enough for you. (If not, just stir in a little additional chocolate syrup.)
Finish it off by adding a scoop of ice cream to the soda glass, and mount an additional scoop to the rim, sidecar style.

Top it off with one last splash of club soda or seltzer water (I prefer club soda), pop in a straw and enjoy! We usually serve ours with extra club soda on the side so that we can make our sodas last as long as possible.)

For the record, LA has lived in Iowa for decades now and sometimes years pass without us getting together. However, whenever he visits, you can bet that I will have the chocolate syrup, ice cream and Canada Dry waiting for him.

Who will you share SODA TIME with?

About Renée ♥

Renée is writer, music maker, artist, and storyteller. In her spare time, you can find her writing love songs about cowboys, exploring the moss-covered nooks and crannies of the Pacific Northwest, and making music with her talented singer-husband.

Comments

Sarah says
October 19 at

Wow, those look delicious!

Reply
kate @veggie desserts says
October 19 at

What a lovely story and I love the idea of Soda Time. Great recipe 🙂

Reply
kelsey says
October 19 at

oh man, yum! this looks delicious!

Reply
Meredith {MarthaChartreuse} says
October 19 at

This reminds me of the movie, “Now & Then” and their routine bike rides to get floats! Yum!

Reply
Mary Ellen @ Pâte à Chew says
October 19 at

This looks great – I’m sorry to say that I’ve never had an ice cream soda, old-fashion or otherwise, but it looks so easy to make!

Reply
Cyra says
October 19 at

What a cool recipe! I love resdiscovering the original way of making things.

Reply
Mary says
October 19 at

This looks so delicious! I can’t wait to surprise the family with chocolate ice cream sodas on Saturday night.

Reply
Kam Kay says
October 19 at

Thanks for sharing your childhood story. You’re lucky to have such a caring big brother. These little things do make something simple so special. I have never had chocolate ice cream soda before, but looks like it is must try!

Reply
Heather Davis says
October 19 at

Yum! I love these sodas!

Reply
Erin says
October 19 at

I’m not really into Root Beer Floats since I don’t really like Root Beer but this I can get on board with!

Reply
Erin @ Platings and Pairings says
October 19 at

These look so good Renee! And what fun memories!

Reply
Dawne says
October 19 at

YUM!! I totally remember this from my childhood.

http://www.dawnehanks.com

Reply
Kami says
October 19 at

This totally made we walk down memory lane! We use to make homemade Rootbeer floats all the time when I was a kid. These look so yummy! I would be honored for you to check out our conference and affiliate program. We need talented bloggers like you! http://www.foodbloggingconference.com/become-an-affiliate/

Reply
- Renée ♥ says
  October 21 at
  
  I love root beer floats too! When I was a kid, our church used to put on an all you can eat Root Beer Social every year, and for a couple of years running I ate so many RBFs that I felt like my tummy was going to explode. Thanks for the kind words about the blog, too. I will have to give your conference a look – a couple of my daughters live down that way, and it would be a great excuse to visit!
  
  Reply
Jen says
October 20 at

I love food traditions like this, thanks for sharing! And I had no idea these were so easy to make. Definitely going to give it a try before it gets too cold to enjoy one!

Reply
- Renée ♥ says
  October 21 at
  
  Thanks, Jen! When I was in college, I worked for awhile as a waitress at Farrell’s, so I can tell you from both a personal and “professional” standpoint that soda’s are one of the easiest ice cream treats to make – much easier than hand-scooped milkshakes, for sure!
  
  Reply
Angel the Alien says
October 26 at

Haven’t had a chocolate soda in so long! This reminds me of, when I was a kid my family used to go “up north” to northern Wisconsin in the summers. I loved it there so much and I’d be heartbroken whenever we finally packed up to go back to Chicago. The only thing that would make me feel better was that we’d always stop at this one restaurant on the way home, and I’d get a chocolate soda for dessert. But I was always crying as I drank it. So now, even though I imagine I’d still love a chocolate soda, I wonder if it would still taste like tears to me?

Reply
- Renée ♥ says
  October 27 at
  
  Food associations can be so strong. Even in the face of distance and time, it is amazing the memories that certain foods can pull out of us, isn’t it?
  
  Reply
vijay@natural ice cream home delivery says
December 11 at

Looks so delicious, love food trends.
Thanks for sharing cool recipe.

Reply