Make water fun with infusions
A lot of people don’t like the taste of water, or find it boring. This can be a major challenge for keeping well hydrated! Keeping well hydrated (so drinking about 2L fluids, or 8-10 glasses, per day) is sooo important for your health - see my previous post on the importance of hydration to find out more.
I have already given my top tips for keeping hydrated previously, and in this post I want to focus on infusions to give you more ideas on how to make water a more appealing (and nutritious) drink.
Infusing water is the process of adding cut fruit, veggies, herbs and spices to water and allowing them to sit, or infuse for a while. This allows flavours, and some nutrients, from the fruit, veggies, herbs and spices to permeate into the water, making for a tasty and refreshing drink. The fantastic thing about infusions, is that the possibilities are endless, so you can explore and find tastes that you enjoy :)
The basic process
Choose a fruit/veg/herb/spice combination you think you might enjoy
Thoroughly wash the fruit/veg, and if the produce is not organic, peel
For herbs and whole spices (apart from cinnamon stick), crush slightly to help the flavours release
Add your combo to water, a mason jar or jug work well for this. How much fruit etc you add to how much water is up to you. I like to have about half the volume of water filled with my fruit/veg etc combo.
Leave to stand in the fridge for about 4 hours
Your infusion is now ready to drink, or if you want to keep the water for longer, remove the contents and put just the water back in the fridge for later
Tips
The rind of citrus fruits can make the water taste bitter, so either remove the rind before starting your infusion, or a few hours in cut the rind off the fruit, and add the rindless fruit back to the water
Eat the fruit and veg! While some nutrients do make their way into the water, the majority will still be in the fruit and veg, so to get all the benefits (and to reduce waste) eat up!
Not sweet enough? Hopefully over time your taste-buds will adjust and you will enjoy the less sweet taste of infusions, but in the meantime you could add a small amount of sweetener to the water, sticking to natural sweeteners such as maple syrup or agave syrup. If you do this, try to only add a small amount, and try to wean yourself off this over time.
Keep it simple! Try out one or two flavours first, don’t be tempted to throw everything in at once. This way you will more easily learn what flavours you like before you start combos of more than two ingredients.
Decide whether you prefer to remove the ingredients once the infusion is ready to munch on separately, or whether you prefer to have it altogether in your glass to eat as you drink.
My top three favourite infusions!
Either mint, parsley, coriander or basil leaves
Ok, this is a bit of a cheat as I have listed four infusions in one! Anyway…This may seem simple, but simply taking one fresh herb for your infusion can add so much delicious flavour to water. Fresh mint, parsley, coriander and basil all work really well and are firm favourites with me. Wash well before using to make sure they are free of any chemicals (such as pesticides) or buy organic/grow your own.
Oranges and mint
This is a classic infusion combo, and for good reason. The sweetness of the orange with the freshness of the mint create a delicious refreshing drink you won’t be able to resist!
Ginger and apple
I am a huge fan of ginger, it tastes great and has masses of health benefits including being anti-inflammatory, immune boosting and antibacterial. I feel a post on the health benefits of ginger coming on! I love ginger infused water on its own, and it also pairs very well with apple especially if you are new to the spicy ginger taste.
Other great combos to quench your thirst:
Lemon, ginger and mint
Strawberries and kiwi
Strawberries and mint
Mint and lime
Watermelon and basil
Cucumber and mint
Orange and star anise
Orange and cardamon
Celery and coriander
Lemon and strawberries
Cucumber, mint and lime
Blueberry and orange
Grapefruit and mint
I hope that gives you ideas! Just thinking of all these infusions has made me thirsty! Luckily I have a cool mint infusion at hand to sip on :)
Fabia x
