If there’s one thing I fell in love with in southern Texas, it was aguas frescas. Silly thing is, I never realized just how easy it was to make. All that stood between me and the most refreshing beverage on earth was a little melon, some water and sugar. And of course the knowledge of what to do with it all.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cubed watermelon
- 12 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
Directions
- Add watermelon and four cups water to a blender and blend thoroughly. This brought my children up from the basement asking for milk shakes. You can see why we have a blender.
- Pour in a pitcher and add the rest of the water.
- Add the sugar and stir well.
- Chill in the refrigerator. This is a beverage best served cold, but without ice. The ice dilutes the flavor too much. If you must use ice, cut back on the water a little.
Now isn’t that the best, most refreshing summer drink you’ve ever tasted? It’s really good with cantaloupe, too. In fact, I think I prefer the cantaloupe aquas frescas, though I don’t actually like eating cantaloupe. Serve with a little pollo con aguacate and have yourself a Mexican street stand night!
(Pollo con aquacate with aguas frescas was the first thing I ever bought at a street stand in Mexico. I have no idea how it was made, but my made up recipe goes something like this: two chicken breasts diced and fried over medium heat. Mash and stir in one avacado in the last minute or so of cooking. Serve in tortillas with sour cream.)
And when you’re all done with that, you can preserve some of the deliciousness of late summer’s bounty with some watermelon rind jelly.
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My SIL is from Mexico and makes this all the time. I just can’t fall in love with it, but other food…well, lets just say that if I could live on Mexican food, I would live well!
.-= Jaime´s last blog ..What Makes a Mother =-.
Every time we went to the flea market, we got a glass. I’ve even tried the mixes up here, but they aren’t that good. And horchata…mmm, horchata. Unfortunately, that one takes ten hours to make, but I may be prompted to try it because the mixes just don’t do it justice.
And I hear ya on the Mexican food. Yum!
.-= Dana´s last blog ..Better than lemonade- Recipe for watermelon aguas frescas =-.
Ohhh, I’m so making this today! I wonder if you can freeze the watermelon mix (before adding the extra water) to use during the winter?
.-= Taderdoodles (Lisa Baldwin)´s last blog ..Healthy and frugal is saving my sanity =-.
It can’t be any worse than the Kool-aid like packets they sell at the store for aquas frescas.
If you try it, let me know!
.-= Dana´s last blog ..Better than lemonade- Recipe for watermelon aguas frescas =-.
Taderdoodles, I often freeze watermelon chunks to use as smoothies later in the year, so I’d think you could do that, then thaw them for this recipe.
I like to make a watermelon/strawberry slushee for hot summer days. I puree enough strawberries and watermelon together (the strawberries make the flavor stronger, the watermelon makes it all more sweet, without having to add sugar), then throw in some ice cubes and blend it all together. It’s a very different and lighter feel than the smoothies I normally make (no ice, all frozen fruit, some milk and vanilla yogurt).
The aguas frescas sounds delicious with the pollo. I’m a big fan of avocado! (I found your blog through a comment you left at quivering daughters)
Thanks for stopping by! I can’t wait to try aguas frescas with strawberries next spring when they’re back in season and your modified smoothies sound delicious!
Thanks for stopping by to say “hi!”
.-= Dana´s last blog ..On spending money in order to save money =-.
Hi, I was reading your article and I just wanted to say thank you for putting out such great content. There’s so much junk on the internet these days its hard to find anything worthwhile. I actually have cooked this recipe before, I got this book last month on recommendation from a friend http://ninjahq.com/go/cookingrecipes and it turned out quite nice! I’m extremely eager to try your variation of it though, it looks fantastic. I think you might enjoy those recipes, they’re very good. Thanks for the article and great ideas.