Paraben Free Garden Lemon Ginger Cooler
This bright, garden-fresh drink is the kind of thing you want to sip on a warm afternoon when something cold and a little fancy feels necessary. Every ingredient here is whole and recognizable — fresh lemon juice, real ginger, maple syrup, cucumber, and mint — which is exactly what makes it such a clean, confident choice for anyone navigating preservative concerns. Parabens often sneak into packaged beverages and flavored syrups, so making your own ginger simple syrup from scratch is a genuinely smart move that also happens to taste far better than anything from a bottle. The maple syrup brings a gentle, rounded sweetness that plays beautifully against the sharp citrus and the cool, grassy notes from the muddled cucumber and mint. A finish of sparkling water gives it that effervescent lift that makes it feel celebratory without any effort. It comes together in one pitcher and looks stunning with a lemon slice and fresh mint sprig tucked into each glass.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the ginger simple syrup
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
For the cooler
- ¾ cup fresh lemon juice (from about 4–5 lemons)
- ½ medium english cucumber, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, lightly packed
- 2 cups cold water
- 2 cups sparkling water, chilled
For serving
- 2 cups ice cubes
- 4 lemon slices (optional)
- 4 fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the 1/2 cup water, maple syrup, and sliced ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the maple syrup dissolves. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3 minutes, until the syrup is fragrant and the ginger has softened slightly.
- 2
Remove the saucepan from the heat and let the ginger syrup steep for 15 minutes, until the ginger flavor is pronounced. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl or measuring cup, pressing the ginger slices to extract as much liquid as possible; discard the solids.
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