Gut Friendly Cucumber Mint Sparkling Cooler
Fresh cucumber blended with lime juice and a homemade mint simple syrup makes for a drink that feels genuinely refreshing rather than artificially flavored. The cucumber base is strained smooth, so you get all that cool, clean flavor without any fibrous texture that can be hard on a sensitive digestive system. Maple syrup stands in for refined sugar here, keeping the sweetness gentle and less likely to cause the kind of spike-and-crash that can upset your gut. Steeping fresh mint into the syrup is a smart move — mint has long been associated with soothing digestion, and doing it yourself means no mystery additives or preservatives hiding in a store-bought syrup. A splash of chilled sparkling water at the end gives it a festive fizz without any artificial sweeteners or flavoring agents that tend to sneak into commercial sparkling drinks. The whole thing comes together in a pitcher, making it easy to batch ahead and keep cold until you're ready to pour. It's the kind of drink that looks impressive over ice with a sprig of mint, but the ingredient list is genuinely clean and simple.
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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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