The Popularity of Highballs Soars: Enhance Your Golden Week Home Drinking with SodaStream, Which Lets You Make Sparkling Water at Home. - Home Drinking Budget is ¥6,474 per Month, Up ¥441 Year-on-Year -

Survey results showing a home drinking budget of ¥6,474 per month, an increase of ¥441 year-on-year, also indicate a rise in people enjoying alcohol at home. (Fuji Keizai, November 2018)http://www.group.fuji-keizai.co.jp/press/pdf/181127_18107.pdf)
Furthermore, as drinking during meals becomes more common, the markets for low-alcohol beverages and whiskey continue to expand. Whiskey, in particular, has seen increasing demand for 'highballs' among younger generations who prefer low-alcohol options and consumers concerned about sugar intake, leading to market growth since 2009.

■ Highball Recipes for Those Concerned About Sugar, Enjoyable with SodaStream
With SodaStream, which allows you to adjust the carbonation level, you can easily and affordably enjoy popular highballs and cocktails at home.

Ice Lemon Fresh Highball
A skillful flavored fresh highball made with frozen cut lemons instead of ice.

Ingredients:
Scotch, 1 domestic lemon, strongly carbonated water
Instructions:
1. Cut the domestic lemon in half, then into eighths.
2. Place the cut lemons in a container and freeze.
3. Prepare a glass and fill it 2/3 full with the frozen lemon pieces.
4. Pour Scotch into the glass to fill the remaining 1/3.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of SodaStream 'Free Syrup Lemon'.
6. Pour in strongly carbonated water made with SodaStream, stir with a muddler, chill well, and serve.


Tomato Fresh Highball
A 'veggie fresh' highball that's easy to drink, recommended even for women.
Ingredients:
80ml carbonated water, 40ml tomato juice, 40ml whiskey, half glass of rock ice, 1 mini tomato (for garnish)

Instructions:
1. Make carbonated water with your desired level of fizziness using SodaStream.
2. Fill a glass with rock ice.
3. Pour in the whiskey, tomato juice, and the carbonated water from step 1.
4. Garnish the rim of the glass with a mini tomato.

■ A Simple Trick to Elevate Your Home Cooking: Just Replace Water with Sparkling Water

Sparkling water cooking is a technique where you simply replace the water used in your usual recipes with sparkling water, or add sparkling water to them.

Tempura
When making the batter, simply dissolve the flour in sparkling water instead of regular water. The carbon dioxide gas generated in the batter heats up during frying, cooking the ingredients from the inside. This is a tried-and-true technique even recommended by a Japanese cuisine chef on a TV program.

Mildly carbonated water is recommended. The reason tempura can become 'soggy' is thought to be due to excess moisture in the batter. With a batter made using sparkling water, the carbon dioxide in the water rapidly evaporates during frying, taking excess moisture with it and resulting in a crispy texture.

Simmered Dishes
When simmering with sparkling water instead of regular water, carbonation heats up before boiling, creating numerous bubbles. These bubbles form within the ingredients, allowing the broth to penetrate more effectively than usual.
Furthermore, since sparkling water is weakly acidic, marinating meat in it will tenderize it. The protein-degrading enzymes naturally present in meat are activated in acidic conditions, breaking down muscle fibers and softening the meat.

Rice
Cooking rice with sparkling water dramatically changes its texture! It results in a fluffier, chewier texture compared to cooking with regular water.
The bubbles in sparkling water help to lift the rice grains while distributing heat evenly, preventing sogginess and resulting in glossy, fluffy rice with distinct grains.
Additionally, it's believed that when rice is cooked with sparkling water, the carbonation that penetrates the grains forms bubbles during the cooking process, making the texture feel softer.