If this were a recipe blog, I would go on and on for about a thousand words about the history of this mocktail and what it means to me personally. But it’s not. So I’ll just say I made up the ginger lemon cranberry mocktail about a month ago, because I love ginger and cranberry juice, and we have ten lemon trees full of lemons. Oh, and I wanted something non-alcoholic that had some zip.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Steps
Health Benefits
That enough backstory for you? I hope so. After the recipe, I’ll talk about potential health benefits. If I need more words to placate the SEO gods, I will add more story after listing these (with sources).
Ingredients
(I am linking to amazon so you can see exactly what products I mean–I am an affiliate, so I will make a small amount of money if you purchase through these links–but it’s expensive to get these things online. Go to your local grocery store if you can!)
Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Cranberry juice (not cocktail! get 100% juice, e.g., Ocean Spray)
Ginger beer (see below for suggestions. Our favorite? Fever Tree. Next best, Bundaberg, followed by Q)
Ground chili pepper. I’ve been using the mix we have in the cabinet (McCormick Gourmet Chili Powder), but I want to experiment with various specific peppers.
Fresh ginger (optional)
Ice
Steps
Mix equal parts lemon juice and cranberry juice, chili pepper and fresh ginger (if desired) to taste in a cocktail shaker. (or just stir). Pour over ice. Fill glass with ginger beer (aim for the same amount as lemon and cranberry juice).
Tips for the lemon juice
You can certainly use store-bought lemon juice, but freshly squeezed lemons are so much better! I use a hand squeezer link this one. Cutting off the tips helps make them easier to squeeze.
Health benefits?
Probably. It certainly makes me feel better after a long workday, or a physically exhausting training ride (see my blog about training for the Tevis Cup).
Ginger
Ginger has some great curative properties. I take it because it helps combat headaches and nausea. Yes, that’s anecdotal evidence. But you can find many articles citing the beneficial properties of ginger. Healthline presents a simple list of 11 potential benefits. Everydayhealth lists seven. Medical news today mentions many of the same effects… these tend to include anti-inflammatory, digestive (anti-nausea), antioxidant, and pain relief. Here is a book chapter that presents a scientific overview of what research exists… bottom line, we need more data, but it looks promising and probably can’t hurt you.
Cranberry
I started drinking cranberry to help prevent urinary tract infection when I was in college. That is, I started drinking more cranberry juice. I’ve always liked cranberries in all forms, fresh, dried, juiced… Just not capsules (except in Spain, where they don’t have cranberries and believe they are the same as blueberries.)
However, there is little scientific evidence that cranberries do much to prevent UTIs (Hisano et al, 2012 is old but reviews the then lack of evidence). Some sources even call it a myth. But science changes, and this Science Daily piece shares the results of a more promising study. And cranberries are full of vitamins (especially C) and antioxidants (WebMD). The juice is a bit far from the source (unless you are juicing fresh berries), but it’s still good for you. (Ocean Spray claims 8 ounces of 100% cranberry juice contains a full daily dose of vitamin C.)
Lemon
Lemons have even more vitamin C than do cranberries. They also contain potassium and vitamin B6, as well as lots of anti-oxidants. (Healthline). Like all citrus, lemons are good for you! WebMD’s list of potential benefits.
Chili pepper
I don’t know how much McCormick’s powder has to offer (they don’t even specify the type of peppers used), but peppers in general have many potential health benefits. Different types in different states of freshness contain varying amounts of many vitamins (especially C, B6, and A) and minerals (especially copper and iron). Some nutrition facts here.
The idea behind the pepper in this drink is simply to spice it up a bit. I suggest trying a variety of peppers, which will vary in their ingredients. You can’t really go wrong!
Lack of alcohol
This ginger lemon cranberry mocktail can be a substitute for an alcoholic beverage. Maybe you don’t need one, because you don’t drink, but maybe you are like me and drink, but try to keep it under one drink a day. In fact, with exceptions for special occasions, I only drink on the weekend nowadays. Sometimes, though, a long weekday will make me really want something besides tea, something with zip that is mixed and poured into a fancy glass. This is it!
In general, alcohol is not good for us. Yes, many studies have found some benefits in drinking red wine, in moderate amounts. It may contribute to heart health, though not all studies support this conclusion. Beer also may convey health benefits (one drink a day for women, two for men, and an Imperial IPA counts as 2+). But as far as I know, there ae no health benefits to drinking hard liquor (the stuff that’s in this type of drink when it’s not a mocktail!) And some studies suggest any drinking at all is bad for you, especially long-term alcohol use (CDC webpage).
I’m not planning on stopping drinking any time soon, but I will be looking for more non-alcoholic drinks like this one. I get just as much pleasure out of mixing it (that’s a big part of the fun with cocktails!) and the ginger lemon cranberry mocktail tastes just as good, if not better than, most cocktails.