Persian Sekanjabin: Honey-Mint Vinegar Cooler with Cucumber Ribbons

Combine the water, sugar and honey in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring only until everything dissolves. Let it bubble gently for 10 minutes to thicken into a light syrup.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (360ml) water
• 1 1/4 cups (250g) sugar
• 1/3 cup (110g) honey
• 1/3 cup (80ml) white wine vinegar
• 1 large bunch fresh spearmint, about 40 sprigs
• 6 cups (1.4 litres) very cold water, for serving
• 3 crisp garden cucumbers
• Plenty of crushed ice
• Extra mint sprigs and thin lime wheels, to garnish

Instructions

1. Combine the water, sugar and honey in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring only until everything dissolves. Let it bubble gently for 10 minutes to thicken into a light syrup.
2. Pour in the vinegar and simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes. The kitchen will smell sharp for a moment, then settle; that fading edge means the harshness has cooked off and the sweet-sour balance has set.
3. Take the pan off the heat and push the whole bunch of mint down into the hot syrup. Cover and leave it to steep for at least 30 minutes as it cools.
4. Press the mint against the side of the pan to extract everything it has, then strain the syrup and discard the leaves. It should be pale gold and smell overwhelmingly of mint.
5. Cool the syrup completely and refrigerate. It keeps for months in a sealed jar and only improves in the first week.
6. Peel long ribbons from two of the cucumbers with a vegetable peeler and grate the third coarsely, the traditional Persian way of serving it.
7. To mix, stir 1 part syrup into roughly 5 parts very cold water in a large pitcher, then taste and adjust; some like it sharper, some sweeter.
8. Add the grated cucumber to the pitcher and stir, then fill tall glasses with crushed ice and pour over.
9. Drape a cucumber ribbon inside each glass, add a lime wheel and a fresh mint sprig, and serve immediately while everything is still frigid.
10. Sekanjabin is one of the oldest drinks still in daily use in Iran, an oxymel of honey and vinegar that medieval physicians prescribed as a cooling tonic and that families now carry to the mountains in thermoses on summer afternoons. The vinegar is the trick: it makes the drink genuinely thirst-quenching in a way sugar alone never is, which is why it is served with cucumber at the hottest end of the harvest season.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 150 kcal
• Protein: 1g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 39g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 37g
• Sodium: 10mg