Infused water recipes – refreshing non-alcoholic summer drinks

Spanish cuisine brought us aguas frescas, water infused with fruit juices or juices from veggies like cucumber. They have a very light, refreshing flavor that’s definitely not just water, but they’re not as heavy as a smoothie. The only problem: most recipes load them up with sugar, making them very little improvement over soda (also, the natural sugars in fruit may be less bad than refined sugar, but they’re still virtually empty calories). There are a couple of ways to turn the agua fresca concept into an exciting light beverage that’s health-friendly.

Tip #1: take any recipe for agua fresca that calls for sugar and replace the sugar with Splenda or a tiny amount of intensely sweet agave syrup (which is chemically not much better for you than sugar, except that you need so little of it to get the same sweetness).

Tip #2: if you’re watching calories or carbs (fruit calories are mostly carbs, so it’s the same battle either way), be aware which fruits are more or less sugar dense than others. Oranges are loaded with sugar, as are most berries and grapes. Melons tend to be lightly sweet. Use this chart to get an idea and then choose recipes that fit in with your body’s needs.

The simplest way to infuse water with fruit or veggie juices is Sangria-style: chop up the fruit or veggies, put them in a pitcher of water, put the pitcher in the fridge for two hours, and you get water infused with delicious light flavor. Splendora has a recipe calling for orange, lemon, lime and cucumber, and also recommends oranges and mint. These are practically zero calories and carbs, but may be too low on flavor for some palates.

Some of the more flavorful recipes: the peach agua fresca, which offers several alternative suggestions involving strawberries, various melons and a cucumber/lime combination. Also the watermelon lime combination.

You can invent your own recipes for fruit-infused water if you understand the basics of how it’s done: you want to puree the fruit, water and other ingredients together, then strain it through a fine sieve to get out all the pulp, leaving you with a translucent drink. Not every recipe online mentions this: if you don’t strain, you’ll end up with a little texture to the drink. Of course, if you like pulp, go for it!

You can also infuse with herbs and even flowers. Herbs like mint and rosemary can add intense flavor just by steeping in a pitcher in the fridge for two hours. Mint is delicious alone or with juices like pineapple or in cucumber or cucumber-citrus combinations. Lavendar, rose and other edible flower petals can stand alone or contrast with herbs and fruits.

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Posted in Easy Food, Featured Articles on July 4, 2008