Pineapple ginger water
The one with a kick. Works cold in August and warm in January.
Most infused water is polite. This one is not — fresh ginger gives it a genuine heat at the back of the throat, and pineapple is sweet enough to stand up to it.
It is also the only recipe in this cluster that works served warm, which makes it the one that survives past September.
How to make it
- Hands on
- 5 min
- Total
- 4 h 5 min
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Per glass
- 14 kcal
Ingredients
Method
-
Slice the ginger
Slice it into coins, no need to peel. More surface area means more heat; a whole knob does almost nothing.
-
Cube the pineapple
Rough 2 cm cubes. Fresh, not tinned — tinned pineapple is packed in syrup and turns the jug cloyingly sweet.
-
Combine and chill
Add both to a jug, top with cold water and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Ginger is slow; this one genuinely benefits from overnight.
-
Taste before serving
Ginger keeps getting stronger. If it has gone past what you want, pull the coins out and top the jug up with more water.
Worth knowing
- Ginger strength varies enormously between roots. Start with less than you think and taste after a few hours.
- For a warm version, heat a mug of it gently rather than boiling — boiling flattens the pineapple.
What it actually does for you
- Calories
- 14 kcal
Pineapple gives up more sugar than most fruit here, which is why this is the highest-calorie infusion on the list — still trivial at around 14 kcal a glass. The ginger contributes flavour and nothing measurable. Not an electrolyte drink.
How this was worked out: 200 g of fresh pineapple holds about 100 kcal, 20 g sugar and 220 mg potassium (USDA FoodData Central, pineapple, raw). Cubed fruit in water for several hours transfers noticeably more sugar than sliced citrus does, so 14 kcal per glass is an approximation on the high side.
Variations
- Add a squeeze of lime to sharpen it.
- Add a cinnamon stick for the winter version.
Making it is the easy part
Remembering to drink it is the hard part. Honk watches your webcam with on-device AI and honks until you do, as gently or as loudly as you like.
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Can you use tinned pineapple?
You can, but it is worse. Tinned pineapple sits in syrup, so it sweetens the water far past what fresh fruit does and loses the sharpness that makes the drink interesting. If it is all you have, rinse it first.
Do you need to peel the ginger?
No. The skin is thin, it is going into water rather than a dish, and you are fishing the coins out afterwards. Scrub it and slice it.
