agua de sandia

I am counting the days until I can escape from New York and soak in the almost perfect SoCal sunshine. Let's face it, August in NY is not pretty. You're not pretty. It's hot. It's humid. Sticky. And just plain gross.


Staying hydrated is super important during these dog days of summer. Water is your number one, but sometimes you want something else. That something else is agua de sandia, also known as watermelon water/juice.


Making your own aguas frescas is so easy! The hardest part is picking out fresh and juicy fruits. When it comes to picking out a watermelon, I cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Since you'll be processing the watermelon in either a blender or food processor, you don't have to worry about buying a seedless watermelon. Although what I thought was "seedless", it wasn't. Mine had a few seeds.....

There isn't really any special way to cut up a watermelon. Simply cut in half, cut into pieces you can handle, cut off the rind and roughly chop up into pieces. You're only interested in the red and juicy flesh. 

INGREDIENTS

a watermelon

lime juice

sugar (optional) or sugar syrup

cold mint tea (optional)

Add about 3 cups of chopped melon to a food processor or blender. Pulse until the melon is completely broken down and is mostly liquid. 

Place a sieve or strainer over a bowl or pitcher and strain out the pulp. Continue with the pulsing and straining process until you have used up all of your fruit.

Now is the time to taste your pure juice. You may want to add a little sugar or even better, sugar syrup and a squirt of lime juice to it. You can also stretch the juice by adding just a little bit of regular water. I instead like to dilute my agua de sandia with cold mint tea.