Cucumber Agua Fresca With Mint and Ginger

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.

Is there a weight or measurement for the cucumber? I have some Persian cukes. How much?!

Really delicious and more work than it seems like on first glance. I’d definitely recommend doubling or tripling the recipe if you want to end up with a significant amount. Add more cucumbers and just add the simple syrup by taste at the end so it doesn’t get too sweet.

I subbed 1/2 c basil for the mint and used less ginger - delicious

I didn't have fresh ginger, but I had some ginger beer - nice substitute. Prepared it all and poured in the ginger beer at the end with a good amount of ice, mint garnish and rubbed lime around the rim. Could probably even play around with your favourite Moskow mule recipe and this one.

use 1/2 c mint-sugar syrup

Is there a sugar sub? Does maple syrup or honey work as well?

Mine turned out pretty bitter. I blame myself. 1) don't over steep your syrup. 2) don't over do it on the ginger. 3) double the recipe. If you do not make the mistakes I did, you will want a refill.

This is so delicious! I wish I had not waited until the end of the cucumber season to try this. I did not bother to strain the solids; it's good with all the pulp.

I love this recipe. I was initially inspired to try it because my long time appreciation of the superior Gatorade cucumber-lime flavor (not available everywhere).The variation I settled on after much experimentation uses much less ginger, the mint leaves thrown in the blender, no lime zest, sparkling water, with more added with the ice, and maple syrup or honey water for sweetening.

I steeped the syrup while making the recipe so it was much longer than 5 minutes and it turned out fine. I would add less ginger next time, for sure! It's all about personal taste. In the end, I added twice the syrup, plus plain seltzer to cut the ginger and get a lighter texture. My husband then added gin ;-) It was a great way to use up my garden cukes, for sure!

This requires a lot of sugar, which I don’t like. Agave or maple could be a good replacement? Also the taste was weird, an awkward clash between ginger and mint and cucumber. Made an incredible mess in the kitchen and a lot of dishes to wash. It was drinkable but not worth the trouble. I wouldn’t make it again.