
It seems that the weather these days just keeps getting hotter and hotter while still maintaining its humidity. I can’t wait for it to be “ber” months again with the refreshing cold weather. Because of the heat, we’ve been consuming more and more sugary drinks these days like soda and artificially flavored juice. We sometimes go through a tub of ice cream in an hour. I bet a lot of you at home are doing the same.
But I’m sure that our regular consumption of these sugary drinks aren’t good for our bodies, especially since our health is of utmost importance during these times. So I decided to stop with the sugary drinks for now and just get myself and family plain old ice-cold water.
Naturally, people started to complain because there’s no fun in drinking just cold water. Half the fun of getting cooled down from the heat is getting to taste those fun delicious flavors from the food and drinks we consume. That’s why most Filipino recipes for dessert needs to be chilled.
So I needed to come up with something different. I don’t want to go back to daily sugary drinks. It was quite bad–we sometimes have soda three times a day. One for lunch, one for merienda, and one for dinner. Yes, even at night the heat is still unbearable. This obviously can’t be food for our bodies. We barely go out anymore and be active as it is.
The cold water is doing its job getting us cooled down but not everyone is satisfied. I know I needed a healthier drink to serve to my demanding family when it gets too hot. I stopped getting tubs of ice cream by that point as well.
And so I looked up recipes online and saw that there are loads of ways to create a delicious lemonade using natural ingredients. Not just those packets with artificial powders that are used to flavor cold water. I know that that’s what we Filipinos are used to.
We recently ordered organic honey online and it just arrived recently arrived. So I immediately got to experimenting with other fresh ingredients like cucumber and lemonade. No artificial sugar will be used in this homemade cucumber lemonade juice recipe!
Using a blender, strainer, and a bowl, we achieved the best cucumber lemonade recipe at home. If you want to recreate this recipe, make sure to get the freshest ingredients available. Avoid artificial sugar as much as possible. If you can’t get ahold of organic honey, an alternative I heard is sugar syrup but I highly recommend investing in honey before resorting to the alternative.
To get bring out the most delicious flavors out of the cucumber and lemon, you need to give the mix in just the right amount of honey. Of course, you can adjust the sweetness level to your liking using the organic honey.
Honey actually has some neat health benefits if consumed regularly. High-quality honey can help lower bad cholesterol, is potentially rich in antioxidants from plant compounds that can help lower blood pressure. It can also be used as a cough suppressant, especially among little children.
It needs to be said that honey is still a sugary ingredient. However, I’m more confident that the organic honey we have won’t risk us to become diabetic, unlike the artificially made sugar that is so prevalent in sodas and artificial juice powders.
Consuming cucumber and lemon on a regular basis also comes with their own health benefits. Both contain antioxidants that will help support our hearts’ health, and both can be used to help support weight loss.
So I’m excited to share this recipe because being a people that prefer sweet flavors in our Filipino recipes, we need to have less artificial sugars in our diets. I know that the average Filipino and even some of you may scoff at this recipe.
Juice packets that are affordable and only need a little mixing with water are more preferable. But think of this as an investment to your health.
The ingredients of this recipe and the step by step guide to preparing it are all written down below. We also made a video for visual learners which also includes all the information needed to make this cucumber lemonade juice. It’s the best way to beat the heat. Enjoy!
- 1 pc. cucumber (big diced)
- 1 pc. lemon (squeeze)
- ½ cup honey/ sugar syrup
- 1 liter water
- Blend the cucumber with water in a blender.
- Strained and poured into the remaining water, mix with honey and lemon juice. Mix well
- and serve with ice. Enjoy
Youtube Video