Water: Tasty Alternatives to the Usual
Ask me what my favorite drink is and I'll tell you it's water. The first and last thing I like to drink on any given day is a tall glass of cold water. And yet, even I've got to admit that it's not exactly the most exciting beverage. My attempts at flavoring still water are limited to slices of lemon or lime, and I'll sometimes combine juice with sparkling water just to jazz things up. But repetition sometimes gets boring. So when I got my hands on Cool Waters: 50 Refreshing, Healthy, Homemade Thirst Quenchers (Harvard Common Press) by Brian Preston-Campbell, I was intrigued.
Sweet to savory, fruit to vegetable, and familiar to completely surprising, there's a wide range of flavored waters (and ices) in this book.
Epi-Log: What inspired you to start making these drinks?
Brian Preston-Campbell: After several people mentioned to me that they found it really tedious to drink their daily requirement of plain tap water, I began to experiment with a few additions to make it more interesting for them. I had also noticed a myriad of 'enhanced' and flavored waters on the market. My main issue with these drinks is that many contain white sugar or man-made sweeteners, artificial colors, and very few natural flavors. It became obvious to me that I could do much better in my own kitchen, in very little time, with the ingredients I chose to create much healthier, better tasting alternatives. Over fifty recipes later, I had more than enough for a book on the subject!
E-L: Were there any flavors that just didn't seem to work?
BPC: My early experiments with dried mushrooms and herbs were definitely not as refreshing as I had expected. I did list them in the back section, "Eau de You," and I am sure in the right combination they can really work.
E-L: Is there one in particular recipe that you've been making a lot of recently?
BPC: My favorites, in no particular order are: Wet/Dry, Herbs Sauvage, and Apio Rey (with celery), They all get a lot of play at our house. My oldest son, Ian, loves almost all of the flavored waters I give him, even though some contain foods he might not eat if they were presented to him in a different form.
Recipes to try:
By Esther Sung
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