Frisky [Agua] Fresca

With another watermelon in our share, we decided to do something a little different with it, and make a drink.  We wanted something refreshing, but not too sweet, so we settled on agua fresca.  This literally means "fresh water", and is a combination of fruit, water and sugar.  I found this simple recipe, and got to work.

I had half of a watermelon left from our compressed watermelon, which was the perfect amount for the two of us.  The easiest way to chop the watermelon was to cut off the rounded end, and then slice off the rind, as if you were supreming the watermelon.  Then you can easily slice it into cubes.  We got about 6 cups of cubed watermelon outta this guy

 I also chopped up a few sprigs of fresh mint, and let it infuse into the water while I prepared everything else.

Once all of your watermelon is cubed up, I put my immersion blender to work and pureed the whole bowl.  In a matter of minutes, the bowl of watermelon was liquified.

Next, we had to remove all of the pulp.  You'll need a fine mesh strainer or some cheesecloth.  We had a small mesh strainer, so this step took a while.  Make sure you squish the pulp down on the strainer to get all of that juice out.  You can discard the pulp.  What you'll be left with is a highly concentrated watermelon juice.

Then add in your lime juice, water, and mint, and you're ready to serve!  If you let it sit overnight, be sure to give it a good stir/shake before serving.  You'll see the water and watermelon juice separate.  To jazz ours up a bit, we filled our glasses about 3/4 of the way with agua fresca, and topped it off with some seltzer.  You could easily add liquor too.

It's a great summer drink.  Now, if only I had a hammock to lay in!