Naturally Flavored Water

Choosing everyday beverages sometimes seems a little tricky to me. Though I'll admit that I might love to, I can't drink wine, coffee, or tea all of the time. Because of the sugar, I try to make fruit juice an occasional, and preferably freshly-squeezed, indulgence. Soda's triple-whammy of sugar, caffeine, and chemicals severely limits its appearances in my diet. Even drinks like Crystal Light make me stop and consider how much Red 40 I would really like to be consuming. But let's face it, there is only so much water one can drink before it starts to get, well, a bit boring. When I start to feel bored with my water, I use a trick that my friend Amy taught me to add just a bit of subtle and interesting flavor, naturally and without the addition of a load of extra calories. It's really a variation of the ubiquitous lemon in the water, and is a great way to use up fresh herbs from the package you bought for the recipe and that called for one sprig! The idea is to pair a fruit (or vegetable) and an herb to flavor your water. The water quickly takes on not only the taste of the fruit, but also that of the herb, in a delicate and pleasing way. My favorite combination is orange and rosemary, which I made a whole pitcher of today, but many other pairings work just as well. For a medium-sized water bottle, I usually use just two or three slices of the fruit, and one or two sprigs of the herb; That's really all you need. Bruising the herb a bit will bring out more of the flavor, but is not required. Definitely try the orange rosemary version. For more variety, though, here are some other versions that I like too:

Lemon/Basil

Lime/Cilantro

Cucumber/Mint