Photo: Eoban Binder/WFIU
This refreshing watermelon drink is served in a frozen glass with fresh mint.
When fruit is perfectly ripened and freshly harvested, you don’t need to do a lot with it to make it delicious. I’m taking a beautiful watermelon and puréeing it into a juice. The only other ingredient is a few mint leaves.
After you peel the watermelon, don’t automatically throw the rind in the compost bin — pickle it! Sweet Watermelon Pickles are especially tasty served alongside cold cuts.
Then comes the biggest hassle when dealing with watermelons — removing the seeds. (And trust me, you don’t want to have too many stray seeds find their way into the blender!) There are seedless watermelons out there, but I find them to be much less sweet than the traditional fruits. You can decide for yourself — convenience versus flavor!
If you want to jazz up this recipe, try some of these ideas:
- Freeze the finished juice and make watermelon ice cubes.
- When serving, rim the frozen glasses with salt like a margarita.
- Enjoy watermelon juice like they do in Persia by adding some local honey and chopped pistachios.
Watermelon Purée
Ingredients
- 1 cup watermelon
- 2-3 tablespoons water
- several mint leaves
Cooking Directions
- Peel the watermelon and discard the rind.
- Cut the watermelon in half. You'll notice that the seeds grow in a circle. Remove the seeds with a knife.
- Place the watermelon flesh in a blender. Add water and blend until puréed.
- Slice the mint leaves in thin ribbons (chiffonade) and place them at the bottom of frozen glasses.
- Pour watermelon juice over top.
Photo: Eoban Binder/WFIU
Consider rimming these glasses with some salt and enjoying the watermelon juice like a margarita.
