Cucumber Ginger Sparkler
End of week features here at Summerfield Delight are usually cocktails, but Creative Concoctions doesn't have to mean that its for the twenty-one and up only crowd. A nice tasty home-made soda is something that is perfect for a late afternoon pause in the backyard.
Today's creative homemade drink is a non-alcoholic mojito, in that there's some fresh ingredients + simple syrup and added carbonated drink on top. Ginger is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, and shouldn't be ignored in a drink. Cucumber and lime are classic additions to the ginger flavor, and mellow out the spiciness of fresh ginger nicely.
We made a couple of these on memorial day weekend and enjoyed one of the first warm shady summer-ish afternoons.
CUCUMBER GINGER SPARKLER
makes two drinks
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 inch section of ginger
- 2 inch section of cucumber
- 1 lime
- 1 can of diet ginger beer
- 2 tablespoons simple syrup
- seltzer or club soda
INSTRUCTIONS
Start by peeling a 1/2 inch section of ginger, making sure it's not grayish. Then slice thinly and place in bottom of drinks. Clean your cucumber and slice thinly, place 4 slices in the bottom of the glass. Then place 2 slices of lime on top of your cucumber. Add 1 tablespoon of simple syrup on top and muddle ingredients together.
Fill your glass with ice, and fill rest of glass with half seltzer and half ginger beer. I prefer diet ginger beer from Goslings, their diet is nice and spicy and not too sweet. Garnish with cucumber and more lime.