Cucumber Kiwi Margarita

I’ll take 5, please! This beautiful emerald green cucumber and kiwi margarita is fresh, light and elegant.

Making this cocktail is easy — no juicer required or any fancy tech items. All you need is a box grater and a cocktail shaker (or a glass jar).

Grating the cucumber and squeezing out the liquid provides us with the most fresh and hydrating cucumber juice. I saved my cucumber juice from when I made tzatziki. In fact, my pink tzatziki goes really nicely with this cucumber and kiwi margarita.

For the kiwi, use one that is ripe and sweet, I love using gold kiwis because they’re just a tad sweeter than green kiwis. Spoon out half into a cocktail shaker, give it a gentle muddle and shake directly with all the margarita ingredients. I love the look of the kiwi seeds in the cocktail — the green color against the black seeds makes it look exactly like a kiwi!

The recipe below makes one cucumber and kiwi margarita. I suggest doubling the recipe to make two at a time — plus, the salt and sugar rim is enough for two serves.

Enjoy this cucumber and kiwi margarita in the summer sunshine, alongside dips, olives and crudites. Or, go the chips and salsa route with guacamole.

Ingredients:

Serves one cocktail

60ml tequila

juice of 1/2 a lime

10 ml agave syrup

half a ripe kiwi

30 ml cucumber juice

Lime salt and sugar rim (serves two cocktails):

1 tsp flakey salt

1 tsp white sugar

zest of 1 lime

Method:

Grate one small cucumber against a box grater.

If you have time, salt the cucumber gratings and let it sit over a fine mesh strainer for 30 mins. The cucumber and salt will work together to release water from the cucumber and the result will be a dark green with defined cucumber flavours. After 30 minutes, squeeze out the liquid with your hands to get every last drop.

If you don’t have time, just squeeze out the liquid from the cucumber without waiting. The juice will be lighter in color and you may have a smaller yield.

Combine sugar and lime zest on a small plate and rub the lime zest into the sugar. Add salt and mix gently to combine. To help the sugar mixture stick, rim the glass with lime juice first. Dip into salt/sugar mixture and fill with ice.

Into a cocktail shaker, add in half a kiwi and muddle it gently to create a kiwi puree in the bottom of the cocktail shaker. Add the tequila, lime juice, agave and cucumber juice. Add ice and shake until the cocktail shaker is too cold to hold.

Strain the margarita straight into the glass.

Let the good times roll!