How to Make Carbonated Fruit

Step 1 Materials

To make carbonated fruit you only need to gather a few things:

Fruit

When making carbonated fruit it's best to use firm fruits, like oranges, apples and pears. I tried doing it with softer fruits like kiwis, strawberries and bananas and it just doesn't work as well. Apples in particular seem to work the best.

Bottle or Container

You will need a plastic bottle or a container to put the fruit into. I have found that a wide mouth Nalgene works best. You can use an empty 2 liter soda bottle however, just be careful not to add in too much dry ice, more on that later. DO NOT use a glass jar. The bottle will be under pressure and broken plastic is safer than broken glass. If you have a vessel that is designed to take pressure, like a beer keg for example, than by all means try using that.

Dry Ice

The final thing you will need is a block of dry ice. You will only need a tiny tiny amount of dry ice to make the carbonated fruit, but its hard to buy less than a large block of the stuff. Now, chances are that you have never seen dry ice for sale. You can't make it on your own and you might not be able to find so easily.

I used the Dry Ice Directory to find out where it was being sold locally - they have listings for all over the world. I live in the east bay of California. I was surprised that In all of Oakland there was only one distributor - the AM PM Gas Station on Market and Grand in West Oakland. They oddly enough had a ton of the stuff for sale, and they are open 24/7! I was very impressed that I could buy dry ice anytime I wanted even if it was only for sale at that one place.

**Before you go to buy the dry ice please refer to this
Dry Ice Safety Info website. I am not going to go through all of the safety precautions that should be taken in this instructable, so take a minute to familiarize yourself with its possible safety hazards.**

Comments

[SystemZERO]

I will never use anything but a Nalgene bottle to make this anymore. My friends and I tried it with a generic Walmart brand bottle, and it exploded in my fridge after 5 minutes. Nalgenes, on the other hand, are practically indestructible.

[thestyrofoampeanut]

wow you actually used a water bottle sorry, i just find it a bit funny because some people mix dry ice and water in plastic bottles to make "dry ice bombs" and on a side note nalgenes are bulletproof, but only when empty

[snowluck2345]

use the ideal gas law to figure out how much dry ice you need. I use 7 grams for a 1 liter bottle to bring it up to 60 psi. Thats assuming the bottle is empty, which it isn't but I'm not worried. Nalgene are rated for a lower pressure than a standard soda bottle. They aren't even rated but they blow up around 70 psi, soda bottles blow up around 150.

[SystemZERO]

No, not a bottled water bottle, but a reusable generic nalgene style bottle. I've never had problems with my nalgene doing this

[EmmettO]

The only places by me that carry dry ice is welding supply shops. I don't know why.

[skylane]

Some super markets are now carrying dry ice. Some welders use dry ice to put into gas tanks to elimainate any oxygen inside, so they can weld/braze/solder. Greatly reduces the hazardous risk factor...

[hoyahoyaman]

actually, you can make dry ice. if you get a CO2 fire extinguisher, and blow it into a pillow case, little peices of dry ice will form because of the decompression of CO2 it super cools it and it make the dry ice. So you know, if you in the middle of the ocean and you want some carbonated fruit...

[guitarman63mm]

Yes, I suppose in an emergency carbonated fruit situation, that may be appropriate. But for something like this, I think I'll stick to my local supermarket's stuff.

[noahw]

I wonder if CO2 fire extinguisher dry ice is food safe... :)

[hoyahoyaman]

yup, it is. i think i read a instructable on how to use it to make instant ice cream or something.

[jleblang]

You might also try Safeway. At least 3 of the Safeway's here in Menlo Park / Palo Alto carry dry ice ($1.00 / lb)

[jackrackam]

Theres a 76 Station on E. Lewelling to that sells it, buts thats Hayward.