Ready for something a little more pizazz-y than water?
Me too! I love water, but I also love a drink with some fizz — and electrolytes!
I make these refreshing summer spritzers with simple ingredients like fruit, honey syrup, and sparkling water. Yum!
Sparkling Water
I prefer either Perrier or San Pellegrino sparkling waters. Both brands add carbonation during the bottling process, but San Pellegrino captures water from an Italian spring with a small amount of original fizz and then adds additional carbonation. Perrier gets water and carbon dioxide separately and then combines them during the bottling process until the carbonation in the bottled water equals the carbonation of the source, a spring in France.
Both brands provide sparkling water in glass bottles, which I appreciate as I move away from using plastic in my kitchen.
As far as taste goes, they both taste the same to me, but Perrier has bigger bubbles and feels sharper on my tongue than San Pellegrino, which seems lighter and more smooth.
Now for the recipes!
Lemon-Ginger-Basil Spritzer
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pure water
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 2- inch piece ginger root cut into smaller pieces
- 1 tablespoon dried sweet basil
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice juice from one lemon
Instructions
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Place ginger and basil in a medium bowl or pint-sized mason jar.
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In a saucepan, combine water and honey.
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Heat until honey is completely dissolved.
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Pour over ginger and basil, cover and allow to steep for 10 to 15 minutes.
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Strain to remove basil and ginger pieces.
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Add lemon juice and stir.
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Allow to cool, label, and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
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To serve, pour 2 tablespoons over ice in the bottom of an 8-ounce glass.
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Fill glass with sparkling water.
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Gently stir to create best flavor.
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Garnish as desired.
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Enjoy!
Strawberry-Vanilla-Anise Seed Spritzer
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pure water
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon anise seed crushed in a mortar and pestle
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Place crushed anise seed in a medium bowl or pint-sized mason jar.
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In a saucepan, combine water and honey.
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Heat until honey is completely dissolved.
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Pour over anise seed, cover, and allow to steep for 10 to 15 minutes.
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Strain to remove seeds.
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In a saucepan, combine strawberries and vanilla.
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Cook until mixture thickens slightly.
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Mash with a potato masher or whiz in food processor, blender, or an immersion blender.
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Strain if desired.
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Pour into honey syrup mixture.
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Stir to combine.
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Allow to cool, label, and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
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To serve, pour 2 tablespoons over ice in the bottom of an 8-ounce glass.
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Fill glass with sparkling water.
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Gently stir to create best flavor.
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Garnish as desired.
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Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
I haven't tried it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that with an added splash of milk, this strawberry spritzer would make an excellent strawberry egg cream!
What’s your favorite summer healthy beverage?
This post was featured in 60 Easy and Nourishing Picnic Recipes and 92 Nourishing Grill & Barbecue Dishes, Drinks, & Desserts.
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I love these recipes! I’m so glad to find something different and healthy. I enjoy our grapefruit kefir but I had been wanting to find something a little bit different to try. We just got a new grocery store in our small town and I noticed that they had Pellegrino so I’m going to give the lemon honey recipe a try over the weekend. I think it will be nice to have next week for Memorial Day. i may give it a shot of pomegranate. I like pom in just about anything. 🙂
I can’t wait to try these! I have a question, though. How warm do you get the water/honey mixture and still maintain the raw of your honey? I melt raw honey into my cold brew coffee in a saucepan on the stove, but it never really gets warm. Will the basil and ginger still steep if the water/honey mixture isn’t warm? I’m sorry to ask what seems like a dumb question, but I don’t want to jump in and mess up. 🙂
That’s a great question – I never thought about it, but I guess that it doesn’t really remain raw after you heat it up. My advice would be to either heat it just enough to “melt” it in. I think the basil would steep as a cold brew but I’m not sure about the ginger. 🙂