Has your herb garden gone into winter hiatus? Never fear! We are about to extend your infusion season year round thanks to some clever thinking from Jane in Belleville. Let's use a drawstring tea filter to get a little fancy with a Saffron, Pomegranate & Orange Infused Sparkling Water.
The only trick is to have a re-usable drawstring tea bag or some drawstring tea filters on hand. Take your herb or spice of choice and put it in the bag. In this case, I've taken some bulk saffron and tossed it in. Saffron, pomegranate and/or orange pairings appear in Indian and Middle Eastern food for a reason, they pair smoothly together. To get creative check out pairing lists like this for a near-endless source of creativity.
Sparkling waters are simple to make. In this case we'll put some pomegranate seeds, some orange slices and a drawstring tea bag with some saffron inside and toss them in the bottle. Top the bottle up with a couple ice cubes and cold water. Fill the flavor chamber with water and place a carbonator in the carbonation chamber.
Close up the system and push the button. Check out the incredible, naturally intense color of the saffron. Amazingly vibrant. If you want to see a 15 second video of this sparkling process in action, click here.
Time to enjoy! Detach the bottle. It is sealed and can be stored in the fridge until your delivery of Indian or Middle Eastern food arrives or enjoy anytime as a fancy sparkling sipper. Open slowly over the sink if you add a whole orange like I did. The saffron is smooth and blends with the orange flavors. The pomegranate seeds contribute little to the flavor - until you sip and bite them. Forget the straw shown here, squeeze one seed with each sip. Yum! Truly a treat. Healthy & natural never looked and tasted better.
