Fruits like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew remind me of summer.
Laying in my hammock, enjoying the birds, and having drinks before dinner. Yeah, that’s what I like to do during the summer.
I was grocery shopping for dinner tonight and walked past the melon aisle. Magically, a quarter slice of watermelon, a cantaloupe and a honeydew ended up in my grocery basket. I think I must have been daydreaming. But instead of just cutting up the fruit and eating them after dinner, I had something else in mind.
I was thinking of something found in many Mexican restaurants here, called aguas frescas. It’s basically fruit juice, sugar and water mixed together and served over ice. Except I was thinking, wouldn’t it be great to have a martini made with vodka, and some aguas frescas made from the melons?
Once I got home, I got the blender out, started cutting up fruit and playing around. Before you know it, I had concocted aguas frescas from the fruit and was ready for martini time. All I needed was some of the vodka we keep in the freezer. (Doesn’t everybody keep vodka in the freezer?)
Aguas Frescas
Ingredients
- ¼ of a medium-sized watermelon, or 1 cantaloupe, or 1 honeydew
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 cups water
Directions
Make a simple syrup by melting the sugar in 2 cups (480 ml.) of boiling water and let cool. Add the syrup to the blender.
Cut up the watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew into chunks and put all of one fruit, except what you’ll use as garnish, into blender, leaving about a quarter of space free so it won’t overflow. (If you have more fruit than will fit into the blender, blend it in two batches.) Blend until fruit is completely a pulp. Using a wire-mesh strainer, strain the blended fruit juice into a large jug or juice container. Add remaining 6 cups of water, seal the jug or juice container, shake well and refrigerate until chilled.
Melontinis
Ingredients
- Agua fresca of honeydew, watermelon or cantaloupe
- Vodka
Directions
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine vodka and agua fresca in a ratio of 1 part vodka to 2 parts agua fresca. (If you don’t want the drink to be as strong, use a ratio of 1 part vodka to 3 parts agua fresca.) Shake until cold, pour into martini glass and garnish with a slice of watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew.