I put myself on a Diet Coke Detox. That shit was getting out of hand.

Problem is, I miss it. So, so bad. I’ve been trying to fill that void with things all the water, sparkling water, fruit juices, almond milk, gin.

I managed to get my grubby hands on a can of Cucumber Seltzer from a well known high street food chain.  As a premise, this sounded amazing.  In reality, it was just a bit yawn. I decided to try and DIY it.  This won’t last as long as one of the cans but fresh is best here.

Ingredients

1 whole cucumber, peeled 200ml cold water 20gr caster sugar Teeny pinch of salt

Method

1, Grate the cucumber into a medium sized heat proof bowl.  I wouldn’t recommend doing this on a chopping board and then transferring it, cucumbers release a lot of wet when you grate them, and we want that juice.

2, In a small saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients and set over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar and salt has dissolved. Bring this up to a gentle simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the grated cucumber.  Stir well.

3, Cover this with clingfilm and leave to infuse for at least three hours.

4, Strain through a cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as you can.  I got just over 250ml out of mine.

5, To serve: add a generous splash over ice and top with sparkling water.  You can use the skins to make fancy garnishes if you fancy.

Or you can, well, y’know…

#GIN