This humidity is helping me to become very familiar with all kinds of chilled beverage options: iced tea, kombucha, coconut water, la croix... But sometimes I want something more festive. I was thinking about this while staring into the fridge on one of the recent 90 degree days when my eyes landed on the cucumbers.
These cukes are just starting to take off at the northside homestead - soon they'll be competing with the zucchini for garden space. They are already jack-and-the-beanstalk-like on the back trellis; that trellis is as tall as me, but the plants are reaching to get to the fence, the green beans, anything really. And the leaves are so thick it's hard to find the fruit - note the particularly large one that was hiding! ha.
Anyway, some internet searching lead me to
this recipe from Bon Appetit. It uses fresh green grapes and mint along with the cucumber and lime. I used coconut water instead of grapes, and I added in a little sweetener. It was slushy-like and totally refreshing! After freezing what was left in a jar, I took it out the next day to de-freeze. Being too thirsty and hot to wait, I added sparkling water to facilitate the melting process. I actually liked that even better. Really, this is like a better version of lemonade...or at least the local version (um, if we had lime). I made it one more time, this time with 1 part cucumber blend to 1 part seltzer water. So refreshing!!
This humidity is helping me to become very familiar with all kinds of chilled beverage options: iced tea, kombucha, coconut water, la croix... But sometimes I want something more festive. I was thinking about this while staring into the fridge on one of the recent 90 degree days when my eyes landed on the cucumbers. 
These cukes are just starting to take off at the northside homestead - soon they'll be competing with the zucchini for garden space. They are already jack-and-the-beanstalk-like on the back trellis; that trellis is as tall as me, but the plants are reaching to get to the fence, the green beans, anything really. And the leaves are so thick it's hard to find the fruit - note the particularly large one that was hiding! ha.
Anyway, some internet searching lead me to this recipe from Bon Appetit. It uses fresh green grapes and mint along with the cucumber and lime. I used coconut water instead of grapes, and I added in a little sweetener. It was slushy-like and totally refreshing! After freezing what was left in a jar, I took it out the next day to de-freeze. Being too thirsty and hot to wait, I added sparkling water to facilitate the melting process. I actually liked that even better. Really, this is like a better version of lemonade...or at least the local version (um, if we had lime). I made it one more time, this time with 1 part cucumber blend to 1 part seltzer water. So refreshing!!
Just tried this recipe- so good! It's my favorite new summertime drink. I added a few drops of Stevia instead of coconut water, which I think made it sweeter, but the mint is what really makes it. Thanks for sharing!
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