I always enjoy having fresh berries on hand, and I try to do whatever it takes to ensure that whatever I buy will not go to waste.
This refreshing recipe for berry infused water is helping me with this mission!
I never liked how often I would forget pints of fruit stored in the refrigerator, tucked all the way in the back or underneath other produce, slowly and quietly developing fuzzy white, blue, and green molds.
Usually, it wasn’t until I saw a brightly colored, sticky juice leaking all over the bottom of my fridge that I would snap out of my forgetfulness, and suddenly remember that I bought all this beautiful produce days – or weeks? – ago.
And then I would cry to myself as I threw away mushy heaps, mourning all the money I had wasted, the futile work of the local farmers who grew the produce, and the lost potential of an amazing recipe I could have made.
But I turned to a new page, after multiple rounds of food waste! I solemnly vowed years ago to always get the most out of my fresh berries!
If you are determined to take the same oath, this is the perfect recipe for you to save.
My homemade berry infused water is something you can make often for a light and healthy beverage option if you have fresh fruit to use up in your refrigerator.
It’s a beautifully simple choice of repurposing potential food scraps when you don’t want to wreak havoc on your diet by making an indulgent chocolate blueberry pie, buttery blackberry scones, or sweet strawberry jam.
The juicy flavors of the strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries will all come through in as little as two hours of infusing time, though you can infuse them for up to eight hours.
As much as I appreciate fresh berries on their own, I also really love them all combined with oranges – so you’ll see I threw in a few slices of fresh orange for more flavor here. But we can agree to disagree if you prefer to omit this addition!
Honestly, have fun mixing up any of my suggestions for the types of berries and their proportions.
With a recipe as low-risk as an infused water, relax and relish in the freedom of personalizing the assortment of fruit and making your own subtle variations to the ratios.
Test, taste, enjoy, and make again for another refreshing round of a berry delicious beverage!
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Berry Infused Water
- Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1-cup servings 1x
Description
Need a healthy way to use up fresh berries? Don’t want to be weighed down by buttery baked goods? Make our refreshing berry infused water.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pint blueberries (about 1 cup), halved
- 1/2 pint blackberries (about 1 cup), halved
- 1/2 pint raspberries (about 1 cup), halved
- 8 strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 small orange, thinly sliced with seeds and ends removed (optional)
- 2 quarts filtered water
- Ice, for serving
Instructions
- Place all of the fruit in the bottom of a large pitcher. Pour the water on top.
- Cover the pitcher tightly with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-8 hours.
- Strain out the fruit before serving if desired. Pour the water into individual glasses filled with ice and serve immediately.
- For longer storage, strain out the fruit after the initial infusion. The infused water will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Infused Water
- Method: No-Cook
- Cuisine: Beverage
Keywords: strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, infused, water
Cooking by the Numbers…
Step 1 – Prep
Set out a pitcher, one that is large enough to hold two quarts of liquid. Set out the lid for the pitcher, or a roll of plastic wrap if the pitcher does not have a lid.
Before slicing, wash all of the produce, shaking off any excess water.
Using a sharp knife and sturdy cutting board, hull the strawberries and thinly slice them. Do not use the tops, but save those for your compost bin.
Halve the blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. If you have larger fruit, you may need to cut them into thirds.
Thinly slice the orange. You should avoid using the end pieces, as they will release too much bitterness into the drink. Carefully remove any seeds from each slice. You can also save the ends and seeds of the orange for composting purposes.
If you don’t want any orange flavor, you can omit it entirely from the recipe.
And if you want a more pronounced berry flavor for your infusion, you can increase the suggested amounts.
Measure out your water. Use your favorite filtered water at home, obtained from a separate filter pitcher, faucet, or refrigerator dispenser. You can also choose your preferred brand of bottled water.
Step 2 – Add Fruit and Water to Pitcher
Gently place all of the prepped fruit in the bottom of the pitcher – there’s no particular order of placement required here.
Pour the water into the pitcher over the fruit.
Step 3 – Infuse and Chill
Cover the pitcher with the lid, or tightly wrap the top with plastic wrap. Transfer the pitcher to your refrigerator.
Infuse the liquid for a minimum of 2 hours, or for up to 8 hours. The longer the mixture remains in the refrigerator, the stronger the flavors will be, and the deeper the pink hue will become!
You don’t want to infuse the water for any longer than 8 hours, as these ingredients, especially the orange, will start to impart a strong and unpleasantly bitter taste.
Here’s something to remember from our other infused water recipes – make sure you infuse your beverage in the refrigerator, not at room temperature.
According to food safety experts at the CDC and FDA, freshly cut fruits are considered perishable produce. They need to be refrigerated within 2 hours of being prepped at room temperature to prevent foodborne illnesses due to improper storage.
So make sure you have enough space in your fridge to chill your pitcher.
Step 4 – Serve and Store
Fill individual glasses with ice before pouring the infused water into them – everyone will love how cold it will be!
You can choose to strain out everything before serving, or you can evenly distribute some of the pieces among the glasses for a pretty presentation.
You can also choose to use fresh, whole berries for the final garnish.
Drink your beverage immediately, while it’s cold. Again, perishable sliced fruits should not sit at room temperature for any longer than 2 hours.
To store any extra infused water, remove all of the pieces of fruit after the initial infusion in Step 3 before pouring the water into an airtight container.
The beverage is already flavored to your preferred strength – you don’t want to continue infusing, or else the sliced fruit will continue breaking down and the liquid will become too bitter.
Want More Flavor? Crush Away!
While I prefer to leave my fruit uncrushed for a cleaner presentation in the pitcher and drinkware, there is a major advantage to slightly pressing them.
Gently muddling everything in the pitcher before adding the water is a quick method to release more juice, and breaking the outer membranes of the fruit allows more flavor to infuse into the drink.
You might like this extra prep step if you want to extract as much flavor as possible from your gorgeous, seasonal produce.
What will you choose: to simply slice the pieces, or to muddle them? Your opinions are most welcome! Leave a comment below, and let’s chat.
If you bought a bunch of blueberries and still have some left in your fridge, we have several more healthy beverage recipes to use them all up after you make your infused water. Discover all of our blueberry recipes, or start with these:
Photos by Nikki Cervone, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on May 14, 2015 by Jennifer Swartvagher. Last updated on August 18, 2023.
About Nikki Cervone
Nikki Cervone is an ACS Certified Cheese Professional and cheesemonger living in Pittsburgh. Nikki holds an AAS in baking/pastry from Westmoreland County Community College, a BA in Communications from Duquesne University, and an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University. When she's not nibbling on her favorite cheeses or testing a batch of cupcakes, Nikki enjoys a healthy dose of yoga, wine, hiking, singing in the shower, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
