Chill with these five-minute thirst-quenchers: choose from a grapefruit and mint lemonade, a zesty pineapple crush or a herby mandarin cooler.
Strawberry snifter (pictured above)
Makes 1 litre
1 good handful strawberries (or other berries such as raspberries)
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of ½ lemon
Crushed ice or ice cubes
2 tsp sugar (or more, to taste)
Recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Mandarin-basil shrub cooler
For the shrub
Zest of 2 mandarins
20g basil leaves
100g sugar
120ml white-wine vinegar
For the cooler
40g demerara sugar
120g basil leaves, plus extra to garnish
1.5-1.7 litres soda water
A few slices of mandarin
To make the shrub, zest the mandarins, keeping the white pith to a minimum. Muddle (ie, bash) the zest thoroughly with the basil and sugar before covering and leaving for an hour (this allows the sugar to extract the citrus oils from the zest).
Squeeze the juice from the fruit and combine it with the oily sugar mix and vinegar. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then strain into a clean jar and give it a good shake. Put the shrub in a cool, dark spot and leave it for a couple of days for the flavours to mellow and mingle together.
When it is ready, store the shrub in the fridge until you want to use it – the sugar and vinegar combined with the cold of the fridge should keep it fresh for a long time.
To make the cooler, muddle the sugar with the basil in a jug. Add the shrub, then add the soda water slowly, so it keeps its fizz. Add a few slices of mandarin, if you like. Serve in glasses with a garnish of small basil leaves.
Recipe by Cori Pim- Keirle
Pomegranate and clementine sunrise
Makes 650ml
4-5 pomegranates
1 tbsp grenadine syrup (optional)
Crushed ice or ice cubes
1 tsp orange flower water
150ml clementine juice (or tangerine or satsuma)
150ml soda water
Extra pomegranate and clementine slices
To extract the seeds from the pomegranate, cut each pomegranate in half, then, over a bowl, hold one half cut side down in the palm of your hand. With the other hand, using a rolling pin or something similar, bash the pomegranate without causing a major injury to yourself. The seeds should pop out quite easily.
Put the seeds in a food processor and blitz quickly, but not for so long that the white inner seeds are damaged. Pour the pomegranate mix through a sieve and allow it to drain. You will need about 250ml. Mix with the grenadine syrup if you would like it a bit sweeter.
Put some ice in four glasses and fill each with pomegranate juice. Mix the orange flower water with the clementine juice and pour into each glass. Top each with a little soda water and decorate with the pomegranate seeds and slices. You can, of course, substitute the soda water with a smaller amount of tequila for extra kick.
Recipe by Henry Dimbleby
Makes 750ml
250ml green tea syrup
(see method)
1 mango, peeled and stoned, plus a few slices, to garnish
25ml yoghurt
60ml single cream
50ml milk
Crushed ice or ice cubes
For the syrup, over-brew 250ml green tea and, while still hot, stir in 250g white caster sugar, until dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.
Blend the syrup with the rest of the ingredients and pour into a jug. Garnish with mango slices and serve.
Recipe by Giles Looker
Grapefruit and fresh mint lemonade
Makes 1 litre
Juice of 2 pink grapefruits
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small handful fresh mint leaves, crushed
3-4 tbsp honey
½ litre cold water, sparkling or still
Crushed ice or ice cubes
Slices of lemon and grapefruit
Combine the citrus juices in a pitcher and, if serving straight away, add the mint leaves.
Stir in the honey until dissolved. Add water, tasting as you go, to make sure it isn’t too diluted.
To take on a picnic, add ice cubes and slices of grapefruit and lemons to the pitcher before leaving. To serve straight away, pour over crushed ice and the slices of fruit.
Recipe by Josephine Malene Kofod, atastylovestory.com
Pineapple and makrut lime crush
1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
6 dried makrut lime leaves
2 tbsp sugar
1 litre chilled ginger ale
Crushed ice or ice cubes
1 lime, cut into wedges, to garnish
Put the pineapple, makrut lime leaves and sugar into a jug with a capacity of about 1.5 litres.
Muddle the ingredients together with the end of a rolling pin and leave to macerate for an hour or two. Add the ginger ale, stir, then strain into tall glasses over ice and garnish with a lime wedge.
Recipe by Kate Hawkings
