Aguas Frescas: Mexican Thirst-Quenchers

In the hot summertime, Mexicans reach for a fragrant, ripe fruit juice, freshly dissolved in a blender with ice water to quench the thirst and hydrate the body. Why consume outrageously sugary soft drinks by the gallons, when you can just as easily get hooked on the real thing? Natural fruit with nutrients such as Vitamin C and E and antioxidants you can find in fruits such as mangos, canteloupe, and papayas, to mention a few?

In Mexico these natural, fresh fruit juices known as aguas frescas (“fresh waters”) are found in open-air markets in gigantic transparent glass jugs, lined up and ready to be ladled into a glass.

Aguas frescas are drunk from the spring until the early fall and can be found in every region of Mexico as well as in the US wherever Mexican culture abounds. They are not exactly smoothies because water and a small amount of sugar is added to the fruit pulp, and they are not just made from fruit, but also from seeds such as tamarindo or chia (a kind of sage grown by the Aztecs). An agua fresca can be made from flowers as well, such as the one called jamaica, made from hibiscus flowers. One of my favorites is horchata, made from rice, originating in Spain, quite possibly via the moorish occupation.

Some great places to find agua frescas:

• Jugos Acapulco – Santa Ana and Costa Mesa, CA
• Paradise Aguas Frescas – Tucson, AZ
• Taqueria Jalisco – Clovis, NM

If you can’t find aguas frescas near you, try making them yourself. To make any basic agua fresca, start out with a very ripe and sugary cantaloupe, or watermelon, mango, or pineapple, for example, and blend 1 part fruit and 2-3 parts water. Even with water added, the essence of the fruit in all its glory refreshes the palate. Strain or don’t strain, and add sugar to taste. Squeeze limes for a slight citrus punch to the agua fresca and serve cold in icy-frosted glasses.

Here are a few other recipes:

Tepache
Jamaica and Chia

¡Salud!

This article originally appeared on The Menuism Blog here:  Aguas Frescas: Mexican Thirst-Quenchers.

Sour Orange Marmalade

This summer, while traveling in Italy, I came upon a wild sour orange tree at a friend's house. Since sour oranges are hard to come by, I couldn't pass up the chance to grab a few and to make sour orange marmalade.

In Mexican cooking, sour orange juice is used, among other things, in cochinita pibil. Since it's difficult to get access to sour oranges, we buy the bottled sour orange juice for this. But here I was in Italy, loaded up with these superb oranges, and not exactly in the mood for cochinita.

Even though we were surrounded by all types of citrus trees in Laredo, where I grew up, my mother never made jams or marmalades. From my own experience, however, there are few things more appealing than spreading your own marmalade on a piece of buttered toast. The bright orange, purple and ruby shades of apricot, raspberry, strawberry, or plum jams in little jars are a summer bounty and an opportunity not to be squandered.

Needless to say, I've had to learn on my own the art of jam/marmalade making. It's not hard unless you decide to make jam for an army. My advice is to make a manageable amount, so the task doesn't become a total chore and to experiment with different fruit/sugar ratios until you find the balance you like. But remember, it's the sugar that makes the fruit transparent and gorgeous, as well as providing the 'preservative' so your jam won't spoil. The rule of the thumb is one to one, in other words, the same amount of sugar to the amount of fruit.

Sour Orange Marmalade

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Recipe Type: Condiment

Author: Gilda Valdez Carbonaro

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 10

Reaching in your pantry or refrigerator for a jar of your own jam or marmalade is just pure magic. Opening the lid brings back the summer sun under which that fruit grew to warm you later in the winter.

Ingredients

• 7 sour oranges (or regular oranges)


• Sugar (a quantity that after measuring the amount of orange peel is the equivalent amount, approximately)


• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Wash the oranges thoroughly, using a brush to scrub well.


2. Cut the oranges in half and juice them well, setting aside the juice and seeds.


3. After juicing, cut the peel into thin strips with a sharp knife.


4. Boil the seeds in a cup of water for about 10 minutes, in order to use the pectin from the seeds for your marmalade liquid.


5. Strain the liquid from the seeds (discard the seeds) and put in a pot along with the orange juice and the orange strips.


6. Simmer the orange strips for about 20 minutes.


7. Add the equivalent amount of sugar as the amount of orange slices you had and cook for another 30 minutes.


8. When it looks translucent and the liquid has a certain thickness to it when you spoon it out into a place, it is done.


9. Stir in the vanilla.


10. Spoon into sterilized jars (boiled in a pot of water for about 15 minutes) and seal.