Recipes

Sparkling Honey-Lemon Gingerade

Ginger-forward, lemony and spicy-sweet, gingerade feels like the perfect mid-September sipper. On a late summer day, you can dazzle it up with a little mint and club soda and it’s fizzy and refreshing — yet, with all that ginger, subtly warming.

We like to make gingerade on the weekends. It’s a thirst-quenching treat after a long, hill-crushing hike. It’s also a nice drink to serve at cocktails if you’ve got friends who don’t do alcohol. In fact, you might make a double batch and send some home with them — it’s so hard to find a good mocktail that isn’t childish or treacle-y sweet.

Our tip: In the cool of the evening, say when you’re reading books in bed, a cup of hot gingerade can be just the thing. We swap out the bubbles for a little still water — think ¾ gingerade to ¼ water — and warm it over medium heat. Like a gingery hot toddy, it soothes the nerves and calms the belly.

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

6 oz ginger root, peeled, chopped

9 lemons

4 cups water

1 cup ice water

¾ cup honey

1 bunch fresh mint

2 cups club soda

Ice

Directions

  1. In a food processor, pulse the ginger until it's pulverized, and set it aside.

  2. Peel the lemons in strips, making sure to avoid the white pith. Reserve the peels, and juice the lemons — you should end up with about 1 cup of juice.

  3. In a medium saucepan, bring the 4 cups of water to a simmer, add the pulverized ginger and lemon peels, and then remove the saucepan from the heat and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes, covered.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl. Add the ice water, lemon juice, and honey and stir to combine. Put the gingerade in the refrigerator to chill for 45 minutes.

  5. Once the gingerade is cold, pass it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the ginger and lemon peels, which you can discard.

  6. To make one sparkling honey-lemon gingerade: Smack 2 sprigs of mint between your hands, and drop them into a rocks glass.

  7. Fill the glass halfway with ice and about ¾ full of gingerade, and then top it off with club soda.

Recipe adapted from: Salt & Wind

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