Apple Cider Vinegar Soda Recipe: Club Soda vs Seltzer

One glass of apple cider vinegar soda built with club soda or seltzer, the sodium in each, and what the weight and blood sugar claims really rest on.

Fizz, a little tang and ice. That's the whole drink, and it needs about two minutes.

This recipe is untested by us. We haven't tasted it for this page, so you won't find a flavor review here. What you will find is a measured ratio, the sodium in each kind of fizzy water and what the studies do and don't show. The idea is adapted from Diabetes Strong's apple cider vinegar soda, which uses different amounts. If you're after the baking soda version, that lives in baking soda and apple cider vinegar, and the chemistry is in does baking soda neutralize apple cider vinegar. There's no baking soda in this glass.

The Food Science / Lab Kitchen Note

Vinegar is sour because of acetic acid. Dilute it in cold fizzy water and you get a tangy, lightly sparkling drink. The bubbles are carbon dioxide.

The fizzy water you pick matters for sodium, because club soda and seltzer aren't the same. Wikipedia says club soda is carbonated water with compounds such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium sulfate added, while plain carbonated water is often called seltzer in the US. The article gives no sodium amounts, so we looked at labels.

• One national club soda brand's 7.5 oz can label lists carbonated water, sodium bicarbonate, salt and potassium sulfate, with 60 mg of sodium per can (Hannaford listing).
• One national seltzer's 12 oz can label lists carbonated water only, with 0 mg of sodium (Stop and Shop listing).
• USDA lists cider vinegar at 5 mg of sodium per 100 g, and 1 tbsp weighs 14.9 g (FoodData Central). That's 0.75 mg, or under 1 mg, per tablespoon.

Our calculation: 60 mg per 7.5 oz scales to about 64 mg per 8 fl oz. Add under 1 mg from the vinegar and the glass has about 65 mg. The FDA sets the Daily Value for sodium at less than 2,300 mg a day, so 65 mg is about 2.8 percent of it. The FDA calls 5 percent or less per serving low. A label is not a study, and formulas can vary by size and market. Read your own can.

Three versions, compared on sourced data

This compares published data. It is not a taste test. "No sourced data" means we found nothing to compare.

Sugar for the club soda and seltzer versions: no sourced data. Sweetener amounts: no sourced data.

What the research says

Cleveland Clinic. Its review of apple cider vinegar says there's no concrete evidence of long-term appetite suppression, and that vinegar may lower glucose a little but not enough. It describes the evidence as mostly small studies and doesn't give sizes in what we read. There's no standard dose. The advice is to work up to no more than 2 tbsp a day, and its example is 1 tbsp in a mug of warm water. It also warns that acidity can erode enamel, which doesn't grow back.

Healthline. This medically reviewed page suggests a maximum of 2 tbsp (30 mL) a day, diluted in water, with a straw, a water rinse afterward and a 30-minute wait before brushing. It cites a lab study, not done in a mouth, that found 1 to 20 percent mineral loss from teeth over 4 hours. It also reports one case of low potassium and osteoporosis in a person who drank a cup of diluted vinegar daily for six years. A single case report can't show cause, and Healthline notes there's no controlled study on potassium.

Our glass holds 1 tbsp in 8 fl oz, which sits inside those ranges. That's our recipe, not a medical rule. No study has tested this drink.

Common mistakes

Making a pitcher ahead. Many cooks report that fizzy water goes flat within hours (three sources agreed). Prep nothing but the vinegar and pour the fizz at serving.

Drinking it undiluted or as a "shot". Healthline notes that esophageal burns are possible. That is why we never serve it undiluted: stir it into the full 8 fl oz (240 mL).

Assuming all fizzy water is the same. Club soda carries added sodium bicarbonate and salt, and seltzer doesn't. If sodium matters to you, check the label or pick seltzer.

Substitutions

Storage

Build one glass and drink it. We found no USDA or FDA shelf life for the finished drink, so we give none. Cooks who publish blog durations for infused vinegars disagree with each other, and we won't repeat them as fact.

Nutrition note

The values on the card are estimates, not measurements: about 3 kcal and about 65 mg of sodium per glass with club soda, which is about 2.8% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value (FDA). They're calculated from typical USDA FoodData Central values for cider vinegar plus the club soda label above. We found no sourced calorie figure for the fizzy water itself, so the 3 kcal is the vinegar's figure. Any sweetener you add isn't counted. The sodium figure uses club soda; with seltzer it's under 1 mg.