Sparkling Lemon Cooler

This sparkling lemon cooler is actually divine like, even though I say so myself! It's ridiculously refreshing and so so nice to sip while you're chilling in the garden on a lovely sunny day!

This drink is made up of a cordial and then it's diluted with sparkling water. Unlike cordials that you'd find in the shop, this one is really natural, it contains only normal ingredients (you're not gonna find any crazy chemicals etc here!), and tastes just as good (if not even better) than a cordial that you'd pick up in the shop!

To make your sparkling lemon cooler, just pop some ice cubes into a glass, add some of the cordial, and then fill the rest of the glass up with sparkling water! Add some lime and mint to the glass if you're feelin' fancy!

I find that putting a load of fresh mint in the bottle/jug that you're serving the drink in makes it so much fresher and tastier! And it looks groovy too, so it's a win-win situation!

Anyhoooo, enough chatting, here's the recipe!!!

Sparkling Lemon Cooler

Ingredients For The Cordial:

• 1 lemon
• 1/2 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger (peeled)
• 100ml maple syrup
• 250ml water

Ingredients For Serving:

• Sparkling water (use still water if you want but it's groovier with sparkling water, in my opinion!)
• Fresh mint
• Lime
• Ice

Method:

1. Grate the lemon into a pot, then slice it and add the lemon slices to the pot.
2. Grate the ginger into the pot.
3. Add the 100ml of maple syrup and 250ml of water to the pot.
4. Bring the cordial mixture to a slow boil, then reduce it to a simmer and simmer the mixture for 20 minutes.
5. After 20 minutes, take the mixture off the heat and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.
6. Strain the cordial mixture into a bowl/container/jug through a sieve (i.e you don't want any lemon slices/lemon zest/ginger zest in the finished cordial!)
7. Once cooled, you can store the cordial in an air-tight container for 3 to 4 weeks.
8. For serving: Dilute the cordial with sparkling/still water in a 1:6 ratio (cordial:water), or whatever strength of cordial you prefer!
9. Serve over ice with some fresh mint and lime wedges.

When you have the cordial done, just keep it in a container and take it out whenever you're in the mood for a drink!

I hope you enjoy this sparkling lemon cooler! I'm obsessed with it, to be honest! It's perfect too if you want to make a big batch of it, bottle it, and bring it to your friend's house or your uncle's bbq or your granny's birthday party!

Seriously groovy summery vibes,

Darragh