Thirsty Thursdays: Ginger Peach Mojito Mocktail

Howdy! Sarah from Snixy Kitchen here. Tina’s off gallivanting around who-knows-where (Iceland? The Netherlands? Paris? Who can keep up with this world traveler?) so she asked me to come drink with you! Fruity, fizzy, thirst-quenching drinks are Tina’s specialty, so I feel honored to be stepping into her shoes for a day. Some big shoes to fill.  Today we’re picking some local California produce and tossing it into a refreshing ginger peach mojito mocktail to celebrate almost making it to the end of the week. In my world, we celebrate every step on the journey – you’re almost to Friday. Cheers!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in fresh peaches every July and August. Just last week, while picking peaches off my parents’ backyard tree, Lucas (my husband) asked if we’d always had a peach tree growing up. To be honest, I don’t remember, but I also don’t remember ever not having a peach tree. My childhood was littered with freshly churned peach ice cream over warm peach cobbler. Tough life growing up in the California country.

For the past 4 years, our landlords who lived in the house above our tiny in-law unit jetted over to Germany for the summer and left me in charge of the two mature peach trees in the backyard. If for no other reason than for the sake of caring for the trees, I raced to consume every single peach before they dropped to a fateful end. Itty-bitty city peaches in my breakfast oatmeal, lunch salad, cookie snack, dinner spring rolls, and dessert cakes. Again, tough life.

Turns out I’m not sick of peaches not even a little. Now that we’re living with a peach-less backyard, life seems so unfair. I’m lugging home barrels of peaches from the market to combat my constant summer peach cravings. And then there’s the rest of the stone fruit family – If I split my time between peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots for all of my meals, that’s a balanced diet right? Bring home only the juiciest fruits that drip down your cheeks, leaving evidence of their sweetness with super sticky hands and a juice stain on the front of your shirt.

California treats me well, making it super easy to cook with local, seasonal ingredients all year round. Today’s ginger peach mojito mocktail is no exception. This mint is so fresh, it doubled as a house-wide air freshener. Even the cats couldn’t contain themselves from the powerful mint; I turned my back while muddling the peaches to find one sneaky kitty breaking the #1 household rule by getting on the kitchen table to munch on a fragrant leaf.

Based on their love of all leafy greens, I’ve decided my cats must have been caterpillars in a previous life.

For those of you looking for a refreshing and sophisticated non-alcoholic drink to quench your summer thirst, I’ve got you covered. It’s fruity, tart, bubbly, fresh, with a bit of a spicy ginger kick on the back-end. Candied ginger and fresh mint muddled with ripe California peaches, stirred up with a robust sparkling ginger beer. This ginger peach mojito mocktail is peachy keen, jelly bean. Drink up!

Here are some other specialty mocktails and other non-alcoholic drinks I’m looking forward to cooling off with this summer:

• I’m never ever going to tire of lavender. I’ve put it in my desserts, and I can’t wait to mix it up in a fizzy drink: Lemon lavender mocktail
• You know what else I’m never ever giving up? My obsession with matcha. I need a few cups of this matcha mango smoothie ASAP
• I’ve got some dried boba in my cabinet – all I need is a fantastic gold straw to slurp up this homemade bubble tea
• This is the summer of pineapple in our house – I’m throwing it into my savory dinners and my drinks. Can’t wait to try this light pineapple coconut water
• This trio of summer beverages: you had me at honey lemonade with hibiscus and lime…and then you threw in some peach iced tea with ginger and basil. Swoon.
• I’m heading out to pick up some melons so I can put melon ball ice cubes in all my drinks from now until the end of summer.

Recipe from Sarah @ Snixy Kitchen