Cucumber Juice Recipes: 3 Refreshing Drinks for Summer

These cucumber juice recipes will be your favorite summer drinks.

Refreshing and packed with fresh flavor, they’ll be your go-to cold drinks to beat the heat.

Why Cucumber Juice?

Here in the Caribbean, it’s hot all day, every day. Highs range from 93 to 97 degrees. Yep. Scorchers.

That’s what makes the veggie so good – it’s cool – it’s a cucumber. Heheh!

Kirby cucumbers are the ones we usually use in the Caribbean.

My mom makes cucumber juice often. She prefers to make fresh juices instead of the store-bought stuff. Those juices from the store are loaded with so much sugar and she is not about that excess sugar life. No siree.

So, fresh juices are her go-to “sweet drinks.” But fruit juices can be super sweet too. That’s why she likes to balance the drinks. Guava pineapple juice is one of her favorite combos. Another favorite? Cucumber ginger!

Funny enough, I gave her cucumber plants for Mother’s Day! Lo and behold, one turned out to be an Asian cucumber plant… How did that get in there? It’s not a common plant in the Caribbean – you never see it for sale. So, it was a fun little adventure for her to grow, harvest and use it in recipes.

May has been fun for her!

The regular (Kirby) cucumber plants are still small and she made stakes from old branches so the plants could grow, vine, and produce her very own supply of organic cucumbers.

She’s having fun gardening. Can you tell?

 

Use Organic Produce

For any juice recipe, you should use organic produce.

This is especially important if you keep the skins on. You don’t want any pesticide residue in your juice… so organic produce is a must.

Personally, I prefer to peel the skins. But, you can leave yours on.

 

Adding Flavor to Cucumber Juice

On its own, cucumber barely has a taste. Understandable, considering the veggie is 95% water.

So, adding any fruit, herb or flavoring will overshadow the cucumber juice. I’m sure the juice won’t mind and neither will your body!

One cup of cucumber juice has 16 Calories. Compare that to 1 cup of coke which has a whopping 102 Calories!

Cucumber juice is definitely a low-calorie, refreshing drink on its own.

You’ll want to add great flavors to the juice without turning it into a sugary mess. Here are some great low-calorie ideas:

• Watermelon
• Berries – like strawberries or blueberries
• Citrus – like lemon or lime juice
• Other fruits like apples and pears
• Greens – like celery or spinach
• Herbs – like mint, rosemary or thyme
• Spices – ginger

You can experiment with any flavor combination. And sweeten the juice with your favorite sweetener.

Cucumber, lemon and mint has a nice taste that reminds me of a mojito. You can add a little vodka too…

Another great combo I love is strawberries, cucumber and thyme. If the strawberries are really sweet, you won’t even need a sweetener… the juice is so good on its own.

What about watermelon?

There are so many wonderful health benefits of watermelon and it’ll give you the sweetness you’ll want too! Cucumber and melon is enough but you can add in a little ginger too! Did I mention the amazing ginger health benefits? That’s a lot of nutrition packed into one glass.

 

What to do with the cucumber bits

If you leave the peel on, blend the cucumbers and strain the juice. Use the cucumber bits that are left behind to make Indian cucumber raita, cucumber chutney, tzatziki, and other wonderful cucumber dips and recipes.

 

Cucumber Juice Recipes

 

Since I didn’t peel the cucumbers, the cucumber juice was dark green; so adding the strawberries turned it to an orangey color. If you peel the cucumbers, your juice will retain the strawberry-red color.

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Have you ever made cucumber juice? What is your favorite flavor combination?

 

Want more juice recipes? Take a look at: