During my recent trip to Canada, I had the opportunity to try the Elderflower Presse drink I’d posted about, and it was quite good. I could definitely taste the elderberry in it, which was surprising since I’d thought the berry extract would taste much different than the elderflower. But then again, my Sambu Guard does have elderberry fruit and flower concentrate, so maybe I’m tasting the flower in both?
The nutrition facts for Elderflower Presse are as follows (8 oz. serving): 50 calories, .5 g fat, 12 g carbs as sugar, and 10% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. Sweetened with cane sugar, and has no aspartame or phenylalaline. The drink is clear and sparkly, and comes in large and small bottles. I believe the small bottle (250 ml) was around $1.59 CAD, and the large (750 ml) was around $2.99 CAD at Shoppers Drug Mart in Ontario.
It’s mild and refreshing, and not too fruity. My only issue with Elderflower Presse was that it seemed a little sweet, but as someone who has drunk diet soft drinks for 25 years, my taste is so acclimated to the diet sweeteners that anything with natural sugars tends to seem overly sweet to me.
My personal taste in elderberry sparkling drinks still leans toward my other favorite concoction, which is Sprite Zero and a dash of Sambu Guard.
Sprite Zero has no sugar, carbs or caffeine, but it does have aspartame and phenylaline, which may have some health drawbacks, depending on who you ask. Sambu Guard’s nutrition info is as follows (1 tbsp. serving): 20 calories, 5 g carbs as sugar, and 80 mg (135% of the recommended daily allowance) of vitamin C. So with this one, you get fewer calories, less sugar, more vitamin C, and in my opinion, a less sugary taste… plus you can adjust the amount of fruity flavor by just adding more or less of the Sambu Guard.
To sum up - Elderflower Presse is more natural and probably less likely to cause cancer in lab rat tests. Sprite Zero/Sambu Guard is less fattening and has more vitamin C. Which is better for you? Probably the one without artificial sweeteners, but since a) it’s not available where I live in Texas, and b) I’ve already resigned myself to a diet soda addiction, I’ve been happy to at least replace my old standby of diet coke with the Sprite/Sambu combination.
1 response so far ↓
1 Samantha // Sep 7, 2008 at 8:01 pm
We just moved in May to an rural old house in MA (north of Nourse Farms) and found the property CRAZY with elderberries (and other berries). I love them. We eat them by the fistful, I keep a bag in the freezer next to the bags of local blueberries. My new favorite fizzy drink is a couple tablespoons of frozen elderberries in the bottom of a glass and the filled with plain cold seltzer. Mash the berries with the back of a spoon and drink.
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