Watermelon Juice was a big part of summer when I was very young. It was what Mom kept in the fridge as a general purpose quencher. But when I got older, I was seduced by Lemonade – which the rest of the world was drinking…
I am thrilled to pass on to you today a newstalgised version of my beloved childhood quencher – one that’s even more refreshing than plain watermelon juice!
A little history…
When my age was still expressed in single digits, Mom always kept watermelon juice in the fridge. And it cost her nothing. Because her bestie across the street, Mrs. Indovina, was married to the eldest of three brothers who owned the town’s biggest produce market. Through the summer, Mr. Indovina brought home a car full of big, ripe watermelons every Friday, and distributed them around the neighbourhood.
“I get ’em for a quarter apiece!” he boasted. “Sell ’em for a 75 cents!” Back in The Day, that was a classic example of ‘making a killing’ on a deal. But his neighbourly largesse was appreciated by everyone – at a time in history when a dollar was still worth something at the grocery store. And a penny still bought candy.
Mrs. I taught Mom, how to make Italian style watermelon drink. She always crushed, then strained her watermelon through cotton gauze to remove the pulp. Her mother-in-law thought that was more ele-gant – and healthier. Of course, that was way back before we were all ‘woke’ to the benefits of dietary fibre…
Simple, dimple…
The ‘recipe’ for Watermelon Lime Agua Fresca couldn’t be simpler. And you’ll discover that lime is a natural flavour partner for watermelon – adding a bright new dimension to the beverage.
What’s in it?
The recipe calls for nothing more than fresh watermelon, sugar, lime juice and water. You’ll be using everything but the watermelon rind. This is a pulp-included concoction. Which adds ‘body’ and rich colour to the final product. Not to mention a healthy dimension thanks to the fibre.
The procedure suggests cutting the melon flesh in rough cubes no more 1 in / 2.5 cm in size. That also makes it easier to remove the seeds and any tough, white filaments you may encounter. You want no-thing but pure, ruby-red watermelon in your beverage.
You can use a bar blender or a food processor to purée the melon. Buzz it as fine as you can. Unless you enjoy the texture as well as the flavour of watermelon pulp.
The H2O question…
While the recipe stipulates you add sugar, that’s up to you. And it won’t make a great deal of differ-ence to the flavour in a final volume that includes 8 cups of water and all the juice from 5 cups / 1.2 L of raw watermelon. Of course, that will depend on the specific melon you choose, and how ripe it is.
But there’s one point on which the recipe we’re looking at differs dramatically from my childhood beverage. Mom dutifully strained her juice, just as Mrs. I specified. But she didn’t dilute it with any water. And she, therefore, needed no sugar to sweeten it up. The recipe calls for only 1/2 cup / 125 ml of sugar. And you don’t need to use sugar. I recommend you add the sweetener of your choice a little at a time, to taste. Sugar will just dull the light, bright flavour of the drink. And render the whole affair less healthy.
The lime question…
There’s also the issue of how much lime juice to add. You want to achieve a beautiful balance bet-ween the sweet melon and the tart lime. And no recipe out of a book can claim that a set amount of lime juice will suit everyone’s taste. So use the recipe as a rough guideline. And add lime juice a tablespoon at a time, mix in thoroughly, and taste.
My take
Today, whole watermelons are available for as little as $3.50 each on special, at my go-to supermark-et. One regular-sized watermelon could probably make 4 or more batches of our focus Agua Fresca. That works out to a buck for 12 x 8 oz / 225 ml glasses, or about 8.5 cents per glass… Even at $10. apiece (for the fanciest types), watermelon represents an amazing value – about 25 cents per glass – compared to a minimum 65 cents per serving of house brand lemonade, or the same 65 cents per can for the cheapest house brand soda.
And fresh watermelon is so much healthier than anything you could buy out of the supermarket beverage cooler…
~ Maggie J.