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Refreshing drinks for summer

June 25th, 2009 at 07:03 pm

Summer is definitely upon us in Minneapolis, in all its oppressively hot, stormy glory. So it's no wonder my mind has been on fresh (and refreshing) beverages to keep on hand in the fridge.

Here are my ideas. Do you have any to add?
Sweet tea
Fresh-squeezed lemonade or lemon-limeade
Arnold Palmers (half tea, half lemonade)
Agua fresca

(That last one is a relatively new concept for me, so I'll explain):

A Mexican beverage consisting of water, fruit flavoring and sweetener. So far I've made tamarind agua fresca from a flavor packet I found in the Mexican section of the grocery store; must add 2-1/2 cups of sugar for a whole pitcher because tamarind is TART. It was really, really good though. Going to try and find tamarind pods to boil per recipe on mexicangrocer.com.

I've also made cantaloupe agua fresca. Take a whole cantaloupe; put half the flesh plus 2 cups water in a blender and liquify, pour in pitcher. Put other half of cantaloupe and 2 more cups of water in blender and liquify; pour in pitcher. Add 1/2 cup of sweetener of your choice and then add up to 2 cups more of water; depending on size of pitcher/cantaloupe, you may or may not have room! This drink tastes amazing on its own or shaken with tequila; I'm thinking about calling THAT drink a "cantelita"!

13 Responses to “Refreshing drinks for summer”

  1. monkeymama Says:
    1245954611

    Smoothies! (I am a smoothie addict)!

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1245956728

    Ooh, yeah! And soy milkshakes, forgot about those options for a moment.

  3. whitestripe Says:
    1245957311

    i know it's boring compared to all your other suggestions, but really sweet things hurt my teeth (i feel old!) and I am trying to not drink soft drinks, so in summer one of my favourite things is to have half a glass of mineral water with half a glass of some type of juice (apple juice, apple-pear, apple-blackcurrant, grape etc). it's also nice if you put ice and crushed mint in it.

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    1245958166

    Doesn't sound boring at all! In fact, that would give me an excuse to buy some fancier juice, because I'd be able to stretch it out longer if I added it to sparkling water. Thanks for the suggestion!

  5. cassandra Says:
    1245961891

    Ooh! Someone else knows what an Arnold Palmer is!

    I get excited when people know what an Arnold Palmer is. I work at a golf course and am very familiar with it. But if I go to a restaurant not apart of a gold course most people don't know what it is. I always have to explain what it is and once I even got carded because the waitress thought it was an alcoholic drink.

  6. ceejay74 Says:
    1245964903

    Cassandra, I read about it somewhere (New Yorker?) many years ago, ordered it soon after, and loved it. I do have to explain to the occasional waitress, but some of them already know. If I get pregnant this summer as I hope, I'll be drinking a lot of those instead of my other favorite cocktails! Smile

  7. monkeymama Says:
    1245973199

    Yummy, milk shakes!

    1/2 juice, 1/2 water - that's what our kids drink (to cut the sugar and afford juice the way they drink it - BOTH).

  8. Nika Says:
    1245989114

    I vote for:

    1)frozen margaritas
    2)Sangria
    3)Wheat beers on tap with a slice of orange

    Lemonades have way too much sugar for my comfort.

  9. baselle Says:
    1245990547

    Italian soda - syrup with seltzer, add a bit of 1/2 and 1/2 to smooth it out. I always ask the maker to use only 1/2 the syrup because its too sweet otherwise.

    And then Seattle has the cold processed coffee to make iced coffee - lots of coffee, some water, filter it in the refrigerator overnight. And the iced chai....

    And lassi - yogurt drink. Mango is great but I love the salty one even better.

  10. whitestripe Says:
    1245999715

    lassi! i forgot about that, so delicious. i like the rosewater one? i think its rosewater...?

  11. ceejay74 Says:
    1246026644

    Wow, thanks you guys! This entry is going to come in handy this summer. Smile

  12. miclason Says:
    1246474694

    Jamaican rosewater, yum!

    What you describe as agua fresca, we call simply "frescos" in El Salvador, cantalupe is one of my favorites. Pinnaple is great, too. Oh, and blackberry!
    One that seems to be very popular is "ensalada", it has mammee-apple (?), cashew (the fruit, not the nut!), pinnaple, lettuce, jocotes (red mombin?), but, it's not my favorite.

    If you want something with milk in it, you can try
    orgeat or barley.

    See if you can find something called zapote (Pouteria sapota)and make a zapote and milk shake...you'll be hooked!

  13. ceejay74 Says:
    1246479294

    Thanks miclason! I'll see if I can find zapote, and I'll try pineapple or blackberry fresca--advice on preparation? Probably blend then strain, I'm guessing.

    "Jamaica" means "hibiscus," right? We just got hibiscus agua fresca mix, and it says "jamaica" in the Spanish section.

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