AGUAS FRESCAS
These delicious and simple drinks provide health benefits: 1) Using whole fruits means you get all the nutrients those fruits provide; 2) You add little or no sugar; 3) Adding fresh fruit and letting it sit in the refrigerator provides a mild fermentation process that adds beneficial probiotics to your digestive system. Even if you add some sugar, these drinks provide only a fraction of what you would find in a soda or commercial soft drink.
Strawberry Water: Agua de Fresa
Ingredients:
1 lb of strawberries, hulled, cleaned and chopped
1 quart of water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
1 cup fresh halved strawberries
Preparation:
In a blender, add the chopped strawberries and enough water to get them to blend easily.
Blend until very smooth.
Transfer to a pitcher and add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sugar. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more. Stir well and serve.
Watermelon water: Agua de sandia
Ingredients: 1½ cups diced watermelon, without rind
5 cups water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Put the diced watermelon in the blender with 2 cups of the water.
Blend until the black seeds break up (about 1-2 minutes.)
Let the ground seeds settle to the bottom, then pour the liquid into a pitcher, leaving the seeds in the blender to be discarded.
You will not need to use a strainer.
Add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sweetener. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
Cantaloupe water: Agua de melón
Ingredients:
1/2 cantaloupe, seeds and rind removed, diced (about 1½ - 2 cups diced melon)
1 quart water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Put the diced melon in the blender with enough of the water to cover.
Blend just long enough to make a coarse pulp.
Transfer to a pitcher and add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sugar. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
Stir to dissolve the sweetener.
The resulting agua will contain small bits of fruit pulp. If you don’t strain them out you get extra nutrients and fiber.
Lime Water: Agua de Limón
Ingredients:
4 limes
1 quart water
1/2 cup of sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Peel a little less than half the rind off each lime.
Discard it or save it for a recipe using lime zest.
Cut the limes in quarters and put them in the blender with all of the water and sugar.
Blend on high setting for five seconds; longer blending will result in bitterness rather than the sweet-and-tart flavor the drink should have.
The lime wedges will still be in chunks.
Pour the contents of the blender through a strainer into the serving pitcher.
Taste before adding sugar. If it is too tart for your tastes add another 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
These delicious and simple drinks provide health benefits: 1) Using whole fruits means you get all the nutrients those fruits provide; 2) You add little or no sugar; 3) Adding fresh fruit and letting it sit in the refrigerator provides a mild fermentation process that adds beneficial probiotics to your digestive system. Even if you add some sugar, these drinks provide only a fraction of what you would find in a soda or commercial soft drink.
Strawberry Water: Agua de Fresa
Ingredients:
1 lb of strawberries, hulled, cleaned and chopped
1 quart of water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
1 cup fresh halved strawberries
Preparation:
In a blender, add the chopped strawberries and enough water to get them to blend easily.
Blend until very smooth.
Transfer to a pitcher and add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sugar. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more. Stir well and serve.
Watermelon water: Agua de sandia
Ingredients: 1½ cups diced watermelon, without rind
5 cups water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Put the diced watermelon in the blender with 2 cups of the water.
Blend until the black seeds break up (about 1-2 minutes.)
Let the ground seeds settle to the bottom, then pour the liquid into a pitcher, leaving the seeds in the blender to be discarded.
You will not need to use a strainer.
Add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sweetener. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
Cantaloupe water: Agua de melón
Ingredients:
1/2 cantaloupe, seeds and rind removed, diced (about 1½ - 2 cups diced melon)
1 quart water
1/4 cup sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Put the diced melon in the blender with enough of the water to cover.
Blend just long enough to make a coarse pulp.
Transfer to a pitcher and add the rest of the water.
Taste before adding sugar. Start with 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
Stir to dissolve the sweetener.
The resulting agua will contain small bits of fruit pulp. If you don’t strain them out you get extra nutrients and fiber.
Lime Water: Agua de Limón
Ingredients:
4 limes
1 quart water
1/2 cup of sugar (honey, maple syrup)
Preparation:
Peel a little less than half the rind off each lime.
Discard it or save it for a recipe using lime zest.
Cut the limes in quarters and put them in the blender with all of the water and sugar.
Blend on high setting for five seconds; longer blending will result in bitterness rather than the sweet-and-tart flavor the drink should have.
The lime wedges will still be in chunks.
Pour the contents of the blender through a strainer into the serving pitcher.
Taste before adding sugar. If it is too tart for your tastes add another 1/8 cup and taste again before adding more.
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