Be My Sweet-tart Mocktail

Somebody always proposes a toast, and you're the one left holding a glass of flat water while everyone else clinks something with color in it. That gets old, and there's no reason to keep accepting it. This one takes less than 5 minutes in a cocktail shaker: pomegranate cherry juice, fresh lemon, a little apple juice, poured cold over ice and strained into whatever glass you'd reach for if you were making the real thing. It has a real tart-sweet snap to it, not sugar water dressed up.

Pomegranate juice ranks among the more researched fruit juices for its polyphenol content, punicalagins specifically, compounds researchers have looked at for antioxidant activity. That's a modest bonus tucked inside something bigger: a body coaxing an immune response back down out of overdrive benefits from fewer nights spent feeling left out of the room, and a drink that actually tastes considered is part of how you stay in the celebration instead of standing outside it.

Chill the glass if you have one worth chilling. Drop in a real cherry or a few frozen berries and let it look like you meant it, because you did.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp plain seltzer water (carbonated water only - no flavor additives)
• 2 Tbsp POM Wonderful pomegranate cherry juice
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened apple juice
• Ice
• Fresh or frozen cherries or berries, for garnish

Method

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the seltzer, pomegranate cherry juice, lemon juice, and apple juice.

Cap the shaker and shake firmly until the outside is cold to the touch, about 10 to 15 seconds.

Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a cherry or a few frozen berries. Serve immediately.

*Adapted from Wendi's AIP Kitchen*