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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3329 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 26, 2023

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A few months ago I mentioned at work that I drink a lot of grape juice with seltzer (carbonated) water as a kind of ersatz grape soda, and my coworkers gave me weird looks. Is this a strange use for seltzer water? My mother got me into the habit many years ago.

Now that I think of it, I have no idea what any other uses of seltzer water could be in the first place. It obviously doesn't taste particularly good if drunk straight. Wikipedia and Google seem to suggest that its primary use is for mixing alcoholic drinks (as seen in at least one Three Stooges film), with some alternative applications to cooking and cleaning, but that all seems too niche for Costco to be selling gigantic cases of it. What do you use seltzer water for?

I drink it strait, German-style. I also mix it with fruit juices, again, German-style, although these days it's mostly lime or lemon to cut down on carbs. It's strange that German-Americans didn't import this practice into the US.

It's strange that German-Americans didn't import this practice into the US.

What makes you think they didn't? It's pretty common in the midwest in some communities for example. I think it's relative lack of notoriety is more a case of its competitors (ie, Coke, Pepsi) having enormous marketing budgets and the younger generations not having any attachment to it beyond seeing their parents drink it.

La croix and other flavored seltzers are hugely popular among yuppies.

If only they could say "croix" correctly.

Sounds like "croy"?

kwuh

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