Emulsifier Free Cucumber Mint Sparkling Cooler
This sparkling cooler is the kind of drink that looks like it came from a fancy café but comes together entirely in your own kitchen with nothing but whole, recognizable ingredients. Fresh cucumber is blended and strained into a clean, pale green liquid, then brightened with real lime juice and a homemade mint syrup built from maple syrup and fresh leaves — no additives, no stabilizers, nothing mysterious. For anyone navigating emulsifier-free living, packaged beverages and flavored drinks can be a minefield of polysorbates and lecithins hiding in plain sight on the label, so making your own is genuinely the easiest workaround. The mint syrup steeps for twenty minutes and delivers a cool, herbal sweetness that pairs beautifully with the crisp cucumber base. A final pour of chilled sparkling water brings the whole thing to life with gentle fizz. Serve it over ice with a lime slice and a sprig of fresh mint, and it's honestly impressive enough for guests while being completely effortless to pull off.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the mint simple syrup
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed, plus more for garnish
For the cucumber base
- 1 medium english cucumber (about 12 oz), peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)
- 1 cup cold water
To finish
- 2 cups sparkling water, chilled
For serving
- ice cubes, for serving
- lime slices, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the maple syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the syrup dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add the mint leaves, and stir to submerge. Let steep for 20 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing the leaves to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the spent mint. Let the syrup cool to room temperature.
- 2
Add the chopped cucumber and 1 cup cold water to a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour through the fine-mesh strainer into a pitcher, pressing the solids with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids.
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