How To Give Fruit A Fizzy, Effervescent Sensation

Our collective love of carbonated beverages proves that people value experience along with taste when consuming things. Sure, we could have regular fruit juice or a white wine, but why settle for that when there are bubbles in soda and champagne? The tingling sensation makes us opt for orange soda over juice and a bubbly over crisp white wine.

The carbonation makes every sip stimulate our pain receptors, bringing a bit of pleasure alongside the throat pain. Unfortunately, we can't drink champagne or hard seltzers all day, but we can certainly bring the same gratifying experience with a healthier, booze-free alternative that doesn't alter the flavor or nutritional value of your fruit — and makes for a great snack or addition to desserts and cocktails. Made by chilling fruit in dry ice, using CO2, or simply allowing it to sit in a carbonated beverage, you can add carbonated grapes to a Moscow mule, bubbly cherries to an ice cream sundae, or simply as a garnish for desserts.

One way of carbonating fruit is with dry ice. However, it can be extremely cold to handle, so it's best to use a container that won't give you frostbite. Since the fruit will be sitting on dry ice for a while, harder varieties, like grapes or apples, are the best choice. Using food-grade dry ice that's in small chunks, place it in a plastic bowl before adding sliced fruit on top and covering the bowl with plastic wrap. The longer the fruit remains on dry ice, the longer it will retain its carbonation; if they've stayed in the bowl for around 10 minutes, you'll need to eat the fruit within an hour, or else the effects will be gone. You can also leave it overnight so the bubbles don't dissipate quickly.

If you don't have dry ice, use a soda siphon to carbonate the fruit. The pressurized bottle gives you a stronger carbonation when making fizzy fruit. Cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces and charge the soda siphon with CO2, adding the fruit in afterward. Keep it in the fridge overnight and release the pressure before opening. Similar to fruit carbonated with dry ice, consume immediately to experience the fizzy sensation.

You can also carbonize fruit by simply putting slices into a carbonated beverage. However, with this method, it is important to keep an eye on your fruit as it can get soggy fairly quickly.