by amanda
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Photo by Sarah Shatz
Three 4-inch-long slices English cucumber Ask a question about this ingredient
2-inch piece ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced Ask a question about this ingredient
1/2 cup raw sugar Ask a question about this ingredient
Put one of the cucumber slices in the seltzer bottle. Let sit while you make the drink.
Ask a question about this stepPut the ginger, sugar, and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring if needed. Strain and let cool completely.
Ask a question about this stepFill two tumblers halfway with ice. Add 3 tablespoons ginger syrup to each glass. Fill the glass with the seltzer -- and stir and taste as you go -- add just enough seltzer to make the drink as sweet and gingery as you like. Garnish each glass with a cucumber slice.
Ask a question about this stepA question and comment: When you say put the cucumber slice in the bottle..is that before it's charged, or after? From the video's I've seen the opening on the bottles that use plastic are larger--the penguin model has a much smaller opening, like a normal soda bottle and it would difficult if not impossible to place a cucumber slice in there and remove it.
Ah, interesting. SodaStream bottles have a wide mouth. I meant post-charge. If you can't fit it then add the cucumber to the finished drink and nevermind doing this in-advance step.
Yes, My soda stream uses the glass bottles with narrow opening. Maybe 'muddling' cucumber in the glass would release more of the goodness for those without the wide mouth bottles. I love cucumber based drinks in the summer--so refreshing! Thank you so much for posting these, as summer time and club soda are wonderful!
I must try the ginger syrup. I'm surprised I haven't made it yet.
Also, that drink is begging for a shot of pimms cup #1.
This sounds unique, and really interesting. I love 'normal' water with cucumber slices so this takes it up a notch. Sounds good for my chemo patients too. Thanks for posting.
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First, make the seltzer. I use a SodaStream.
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Next up: 3 syrups. That's Jennifer behind me.
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Before I create a new recipe, I like to sketch out the ingredients and ratios.
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For the gingerale, I peeled and sliced ginger...
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... and combined it with raw sugar and water in a pan.
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For the vanilla egg cream, I scraped the seeds from half a vanilla bean, and added the bean, seeds....
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... sugar, and water to a pan.
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For the rebujito (sherry + lemon soda), I peeled 2 lemons and added the zest, sugar, and water to a pan.
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Then I boiled all three syrups at the same time. I gave the ginger an extra 2 minutes of boiling time to break down the ginger (I also started it with a higher ratio of water so it would boil down to about the same viscosity as the other two syrups).
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Next, I prepared the garnishes: cucumber for the gingerale and lemon for the rebujito. I have since tweaked the recipe and would add some cucumber to the seltzer about 10 minutes before making the drink and would add a slice of cucumber as garnish -- to make sure that the drink has a perceptible whiff of cucumber.
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Adding fino sherry.
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I am a good little student.
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And now the lemon syrup.
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For the egg cream, first the milk.
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Then the vanilla syrup.
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And then it was time to fill the glasses with homemade seltzer.
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Gingerale with Cucumber
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Vanilla Egg Cream
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Rebujito
This was off the hook good. Very refreshing on a hot day.