Socată

This article is about a beverage. For the aircraft manufacturer, see EADS Socata

Socată is a traditional Romanian soft drink made from the flowers of the European elder (or elderberry) shrub, Sambucus nigra (soc in Romanian). The European elderberry (sometimes called common elder) also grows spontaneously in North America.

How to make socată

Ingredients

10-12 elder flower clusters
1-2 lemons
0.8 kg of sugar
10 litres of water
tiny bit of yeast (optional)
10-15 raisins (optional)

Directions

Put the elderberry flowers in a large transparent jar filled with 10 litres of lukewarm water.
Chop the lemon(s) in slices and add it, together with the sugar, to the mixture. You can also add a small quantity of yeast to give the beverage a slightly alcoholized flavour (a few grams will do). Alternately, you can use a slice of sourdough bread. Add raisins
Cover the jar with cheesecloth or other thin, loosely woven cloth (like gauze cotton surgical dressing) to allow air to flow freely and keep impurities out, then leave it for 3-4 days at room temperature. Don't forget to stir it daily. Socată is ready to be bottled when it has a greenish-yellow colour and, if yeast has been used, it should be carbonated (bubbly) like champagne. If you used raisins, the beverage is ready for bottling when the raisins start to float.
After this period, filter the mixture (again, gauze will do), put the drink in bottles, close them well and refrigerate to stop fermentation. If kept several days at room temperature, the bottles can explode do to the carbon dioxide pressure build-up.

Serve socată cold from the fridge. Caution: serving socată "on the rocks" is not recommended, as it might alter the original taste.

Trivia

The Romanian branch of the Coca-Cola corporation produces a local variant of Fanta called Fanta Shokata, which also has been introduced in other countries, like Denmark, Norway and Israel.
Perla Harghitei produces and bottles socată in Harghita county, Romania, which is also exported to the United States.

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