Agua Fresca

One good thing about working in kitchens is the amount of diversity you come across with your co-workers. It is typical that in most kitchens there is someone of mexican discent working. since working at the Greenbrier, I have worked with many passionate and food driven chefs and I have never worked anywhere else where I have seen so much creativity. One of the chefs in our kitchen is crazy about making this fruit drink just about every day for our family meal. I finally went up to Armando and asked him what the deal is with him making these delicous and refreshing drinks. He told me that this melon water aka Agua Fresca is a very popular drink in Mexico. Traditionally when they drink water they add to it whatever seasonal fruit there is to it for a delicous flavor. I did some research on this tradition and according to the hawaiidiner.com, this beverage literally translated as "fresh water" is a drink made from what ever fruit is in season and usually has some sort of sweetner such as sugar added to it. You will find these drinks all over mexico on the street or in restaurant and the distinct fruitiness balances very well amongst Mexican cuisine. This beverage can also be see in the Phillipines.

I watched Armando prepared this tasty beverage one day and asked if it was okay to copy the recipe and add it to my blog.  You can use whatevery fruit you like, we prefer to use compressed melons such as watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. We compressed them because the fruit we recieved this year was not as sweet as it should be so compressing it in simple syrup added great sweetness to it.

To make you:
-Add into a blender or vita prep any kind of fruit up to the top. For this recipe we used all three melons as mentioned above.
-Add in 1 cup lemon juice
-Add 4 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, cooked down)
-Add in small handful mint leaves (optional)
-Blend together
-Strain though a fine mesh strainer or chinoise
-Serve over ice and enjoy.

You can also add in berries if prefered for additional flavors. This is a very delicious and light refreshing beverage. Goes wonderful with hot/spicy foods, and great to enjoy on a hot summer day.

Pictured above is an example of how to start the beverage with adding everything into the blender prior to blending.