Soda has been in the news a lot lately — from its purported contribution to childhood obesity to its attempted serving size regulation in New York City. And there’s the rising trend of making your own soda at home with countertop-size carbonation machines.

Whatever your feelings are about soda, canned and bottled soft drinks can be great ingredients in cooking up some tasty fare.

Soda has attributes that cooks love. Its sweetness serves as a substitute for the sugar called for in many recipes. The sparkle and fizz act as a leavening agent in baked goods. The carbonation and acids are great for tenderizing meat. And, in many recipes, the soda liquid replaces eggs and oil, thus lowering fat and sometimes calories.

Sugary soda caramelizes well when subjected to heat, making it ideal for sauces, glazes and marinades.

If you opt for diet soda, the resulting food has many less calories than its full-sugared cousin.

Cake cues

Weight Watchers recommends preparing cake mixes with diet soda to minimize calories while still offering a tasty sweet snack. Instead of the eggs and oil normally called for in the mix preparation, the company suggests substituting a single 12-ounce can of diet soda. And it also suggests using the soda to make a cake glaze.

The flavor combo is up for grabs, and many diet soda/cake combos can be found online. Weight Watchers suggests a spice cake mix prepared with diet root beer, a chocolate or devil’s food variety mixed with Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, or a white or yellow cake mix made with Diet Cherry 7UP or diet orange soda.

The same cake mix/soda combinations can also be prepared with non-diet sodas as well, depending on your preference. The combos are almost endless, so experiment and create your own pairings. Try some lesser-known soda flavors as well, such as Pibb Xtra, Fanta, Squirt, etc. Ginger ale melds well with almost any cake flavor without adding a strong flavor of its own.

Use sodas for the liquid in brownie mixes, too, omitting the oil, egg and water called for in the package directions.

Note that cakes, cupcakes and brownies made using this substitution are often very moist and require a slightly longer baking time to ensure doneness.

Meat magic

Whether you cook meat in a Dutch oven, a slow cooker or a conventional oven, using soda as either a flavorful marinade, a barbecue sauce or a glaze adds superb goodness to even inexpensive cuts. Caramelized colas work well for cooking chicken, pork or beef, and make any rib irresistible.

Fruit frenzy

Slow cooking pears, peaches or apples with a clear soda (like 7UP, Sprite, etc.) creates a light sweet syrup sure to please. The fruit can be served whole, in chunks or blended into a smooth sauce.

Flour power

Making biscuits with carbonated soda creates a fluffy tenderness not found with traditional fare. And adding lemon-lime soda to pancakes makes them puff. The bubbly soda creates air pockets in griddle cakes for extra rise.

So, survey your soda and pantry stash, or head to Powell’s Sweet Shoppe in Bend for some lesser-known soda flavors, and start creating. Note that in some recipes the substitution of diet soda doesn’t work well, especially where caramelization is needed, since it doesn’t contain sugar.

.articleImage {display: none;}

What’s in a name?

What do you call a carbonated sugary drink in a bottle or can? Well, the answer likely depends on what part of the country you are from. It could be soda, it could be pop, a combination (soda pop), or it could be called a Coke, even though it may not be that brand name drink at all.

To see the geographic differences, check out www.popvssoda.com.