Cucumber Agua Fresca With Mint and Ginger
Published July 27, 2021
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 ½ packed cups fresh mint leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
1 cup hot water
2 English cucumbers, ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger (about 2 ounces), scrubbed and chopped
1 lime, plus more as needed
Ice cubes, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving
38 grams carbs; 151 calories; 1 gram fat; 4 grams fiber; 138 milligrams sodium; 2 grams protein; 28 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine the mint leaves, sugar and salt, and crush them all together using a fork or the back of a wooden spoon just until the mint is bruised. Pour in the hot water, and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve. Allow the mixture to steep for 5 minutes while you prepare the cucumbers.
- Step 2
Combine the cucumbers and ginger in a blender. Zest the lime right over the blender, then halve it and squeeze in its juice. Pour in 1 cup room-temperature water and purée on high until smooth. Pour the purée through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing lightly on the solids with a spatula to extract the liquid. Discard the solids and pour the agua fresca into a medium pitcher.
- Step 3
Pour the mint syrup through the same strainer into a container, pressing on the leaves to extract the liquid. Add ¼ cup strained syrup to the agua fresca. Taste and add more syrup or more lime juice to taste. Cover any leftover syrup and refrigerate for another use.
- Step 4
Fill glasses with ice, pour in the agua fresca, garnish with mint and serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
These flavours are wonderful together. After making this a couple of times, I got lazy and started adding a few springs of mint right to the blender instead of steeping a cup and a half. I did away with the sugar syrup all together, added extra water to the blender to compensate, and then after straining, I added agave syrup to taste. And ice. And gin.
This is delicious! I don’t have a blender so used my food processor. May not purée quite as well as a blender so I recommend adding two layers of cheesecloth to the strainer. Then once most of the liquid has dropped through, gather up the corners of the cheese cloth and twist to wring out every last drop of liquid. Tomorrow I may add vodka.
Tasty, and a great way to fill the dishwasher.
While it successfully used a significant amount of mint from my garden, the process involved more dishes and effort than anticipated. Unfortunately, the flavor wasn’t as bright as I had hoped. I also found the texture a bit grainy after using a regular strainer, so I may try running it through a cheesecloth to see if it improves. I originally made this to bring to a dinner party, but I have decided not to share it, which is quite disheartening.
I peeled half of the cucumber, added more ginger, more lime and zest, no mint (I didn’t have any at the moment) and puréed it all in the blender, adding a little agave during the blend. Delish.
Instead of using a food processor, I used a juicer. I added the lime juice in at the end. It made the step of straining the juice unnecessary, thus turning this recipe into a simple process. The results were dellicious.