The Best Foraged Fizz
In Rhode Island, the wild finds you. It pushes up through the cracks, climbs the stone walls, spills into the edges of the garden where you didn’t plant anything and yet it grows. By early summer, the dandelions are everywhere. Not the flower—those will come later—but the jagged green leaves, bitter and sharp like a well-placed opinion. That’s where Wild Soda begins.
Wild Soda is mocktail made from what’s within reach: dandelion greens from the yard, mint from the garden bed, a spoon of raw honey for body and sparkling water for the fizz and lift. It’s a drink that tastes like the outside. Not the curated “al fresco” kind, but the actual messy, living outdoors kind—in the best way.
The dandelion greens bring a bitter backbone, like a nonalcoholic take on an amaro. Mint gives brightness and clarity, while the honey softens the edges and adds a floral note that sugar never could. It’s complex, crisp and deeply drinkable—the kind of beverage you can sip in work gloves, or with your feet up.
Wild Soda
Ingredients
- 1 small handful dandelion greens (young, tender leaves work best)
- 4-6 fresh mint leaves
- 1 tbsp raw local honey
- ½ oz fresh lemon juice
- 6-8 oz sparkling water
- Herb garnish (mint, thyme, lemon balm, fennel fronds or whatever’s growing)
