How to Make a Cleansing Water with Cucumber, Mint and Ginger Root

Add mint leaves, ginger and cucumber to freshen drinking water.

With all the beverages on the market, it's refreshing to step back and make your own fresh, natural water drink. This is made with regular tap water and a few items you can pick up from your local produce department, and start drinking right away.

Things You'll Need

• ginger root
• 2 quarts of water
• mint leaves
• peeled, seeded cucumber
• pitcher

Instructions

1. 

   Peel and seed a cucumber.

   Purchase a cucumber, ginger root and mint leaves from wherever you get your produce. If you grow them yourself, you can just pick them up from your garden. Peel and seed the cucumber. Start with half a cuke, then decide what balance of flavors you like best by experimenting a few times. Add your cut cucumber pieces to a 2-quart pitcher.

2. 

   Peel and cut the ginger root into small chunks.

   Next, peel and cut into chunks up to 2 inches of ginger root. Add the pieces of cut ginger root to the 2-quart pitcher.

3. Whether you have home-grown or store-bought mint leaves, add approximately 10 leaves to the pitcher with the other ingredients; you can use fewer or more, depending on the flavor you like best. Pour water over your cut-up pieces and let stand in the refrigerator overnight to achieve maximum flavor.

4. As you drink your fresh water beverage, keep adding water to the pieces and stir for up to two days before dumping the herbs and vegetables and starting over. Drink as much water as you can daily; this is a refreshing option to plain old water.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep chunks small, and use a spoon or strainer to keep the pieces out of your glass when you pour it.

• Don't keep the pieces longer than 48 to 72 hours. Check on them, making sure they still appear fresh.

References

• Martha Stewart: Ginger Mint Water
• Martha Stewart: Cucumber Water
• Southern Living; A Refreshing Drink; March 2008