For most of us, staying healthy meanings avoid sugary, additive-laden beverages. But that doesn’t mean we must give up flavorful summertime drinks.

Hang on to health and flavor by adding a burst of fresh summer taste to plain water with delicious botanicals. Now called “infused water,” the idea has been around for centuries. During the Renaissance, flowers were the more popular choice for infusion, possibly because a wide variety of fresh fruit wasn’t as easy to come by as it is today.

Using refreshing herbs such a mint and lemongrass, and sweet fruits like orange and blackberry, these beverages are healthy, tasty, and take only minutes to make. In the three recipes below, vanilla bean offers a subtly sweet quality, making these blends a perfect alternative to sugary drinks.

Whatever type of infused water you’ll make, you want to place your ingredients in a ½-gallon pitcher and fill with cold water and refrigerate. Refrigerate overnight (or even longer) to let the flavors fully meld.

When ready to serve, you’ll strain the water and return it to your pitcher. Then drop in a few fresh botanicals for aesthetics. Keep the pitcher in your fridge. This will stay fresh and tasty for a few days.

Lemon-infused water and lime-infused water are some of the most well-liked choices. And sage and basil are becoming as popular as lemongrass and mint. Even thin cucumber and carrot slices are showing up in water now.

Most infused water recipes are loose and do well with personal interpretation. You can always adjust ingredient amounts to add more less of a certain flavor. And get creative with ingredients; don’t hesitate to use what you have on hand.

Since infusing water with fruit is something that tends to be done at home, it’s difficult to find standard nutrition information. But current research shows that while flavor is imparted through the inclusion of fruit, the water itself doesn’t typically take on high levels of nutrients, vitamins, or minerals through the infusion process. However, if you squeeze the fruit to release juice, more vitamins and minerals may be released (the jury’s still out on this, though).

But nutrients or not, it’s still a terrific idea, don’t you think? We all know how crucial being well-hydrated is to our health, so let’s vote for something as easy as infused water to increase that hydration, right?

I’ll close with the three infusion recipes mentioned above (they’ve circulated through the Internet for several years now). And if you have a water recipe that you favor, it would be wonderful if you’d share it. Let’s help each other take our water to the next level!



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    Alice Osborne
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
    Email the author! alice@dvo.com