What is the best aguas frescas recipe?!
What is the best aguas frescas recipe?
Answers:
Whether or not you like this depends on whether or not you love cucumbers, like I do. But if you do, this is easy and incredibly refreshing!
Agua Fresca de Pepino
--3 quarts very cold water
--3 cucumbers, peeled, chopped (don't bother to seed them because you'll be straining the mixture later)
--1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
--1/4 cup sugar--strictly optional!! (I usually don't use any sugar at all)
--crushed ice
--lime slices
In blender (blender works better than food processor for this), puree 1/2 cup cold water with 1 cup cucumber. Add remaining cucumber and more water as needed to puree it all. Strain with a fine-meshed sieve.
Stir in remaining cold water, lime juice and the sugar if you are using it. Chill for at least a couple of hours. Serve over crushed ice with a lime slice.
VARIATIONS: Last time I made this I used chopped seedless watermelon instead of the cucumber. (Did you know that the watermelon is the closest botanical relative of the cucumber? Neither did I, until my know-it-all botanist friend told me so...) Anyway, the exact same recipe works really well with watermelon instead of cucumber, and watermelon water does seem to win the popularity contest. The same people who go "yuck, cucumber!" often go "yum, watermelon!" It might be fun to make both and see what people think.
And one time when I made agua fresca, I stuck a few fresh mint sprigs in the pitcher after straining and pounded them a little with the end of a wooden spoon before putting the pitcher to chill. It gave the whole drink a little "something" without being too strong, and though I was making the cucumber version, I bet it would work really well with watermelon too.
I hope this is helpful!