A New Book Elevates The Most Essential Beverage

A new book elevates the most essential beverage

We applauded ourselves when we switched from canned soda to flavored water, but then we read that these colorful elixirs are just as loaded with sugar and artificial ingredients (not to mention their carbon footprints). Plus they're expensive. Now what?

Thanks to a new book, you now can make healthy flavored waters at home. Cool Waters, by New York-based food stylist Brian Preston-Campbell, contains 50 recipes for water-based drinks that are full of all-natural ingredients.

Crafted with the care of sophisticated cocktails, the recipes range from post-workout quenchers to complex, food-friendly pairings, including the antioxidant-rich Wet/Dry, a berry-flavored drink made exclusively with dried fruit. It's become our new predinner drink for nights when wine is out of the question.

Wet/Dry

Recipe and photo from Cool Waters (The Harvard Common Press, 2009)

Makes 6 servings

6 cups still water

2 tablespoons dried goji berries

2 tablespoons dried currants

2 tablespoons dried cherries

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

4 whole cloves, crushed

1. Heat the water to 100° (check with an instant-read thermometer; it should feel barely warm to the touch). Pour into a bowl or jar, add the remaining ingredients and steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.

3. Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the water into a pitcher. Serve cold. Save the rehydrated fruit for another use.