First Post! - Sidral Mundet and Brown Sugar Glazed Ham baked in Apple Juice. Introduction.

For my first post I thought I'd start with this delicious no-brainer. The apple juice which supplied the moisture during the cooking process as well as the bulk of the sauce served post-cooking paired excellently with this fine soda. Sidral Mundet is a carbonated apple juice drink from Mexico, thus the obviousness of the pairing. It is not overly sweet or dry and avoids even cider territory due to its subtler than cider apple tones. Very simple yet very effective and a perfect foil for the saltiness of the ham. It has become one of my favorite new sodas during my foray into soda pairings. Yeah, that's right, soda pairings. and this is a pairing I will certainly experience again.

Not being one who consumes alcohol, and being one who brews various non-alcoholic carbonated drinks (kombucha), I have recently begun tasting and thinking about the many sodas we imbibe as a culture more critically. Furthermore, I have begun to wonder how I might go about selecting the sodas I inevitably drink at social gatherings and meals, in order to maximize their cohesiveness with the flavors of the food I eat. I feel I might be able to accomplish this easier, as well as remember what I have found, if I record my findings. And hey, why not share them with everyone while I'm at it! My own pictures will follow very soon to replace these. I can't find my camera cord! The ham picture was taken from mybelize.net and the Sidral Mundet picture was taken from novamex.com. No legal action please, I don't want them on here either! Well, maybe the ham picture can stay; it looks so good.

Being a trained cook, foodie, amateur farmer at times, and general local food system nut, most of the sodas I will try are going to either be obscure (at least to my culture), local micro-brews, organic, naturally brewed, home-brewed, or a combination of the above. I hope you enjoy! I would say there won't be a Coke or Sprite or any soda of that sort posting but I just can't make that statement with absolute certainty, but let's just say I wouldn't expect it. It's definitely not a priority. Thanks for coming!