Agua fresca is a popular Mexican fruit drink. It is sometimes also called
Aguacita or
Agua de fruta. Agua fresca literally means "fresh water," but these drinks are not very watery at all. They come in many different flavors, but the most common are
lemon (
limón),
pineapple (
piña),
tamarind (
tamarindo),
watermelon (
sandía),
hibiscus (
jamaica),
strawberry (
fresa),
mango,
guava,
guayaba, and
horchata-flavored. These are the kinds of
aguas frescas you can buy on the street at
heladerias, the Mexican equivalent to an
ice cream parlor. They sell them out of huge metal vats and use hand-sized blocks of ice to keep them cool. These
heladeria types are usually pretty sweet, however, when people make
agua fresca at home, it's usually much less sweet, and they make them out of other kinds of things, such as
cucumbers (
pepino) and melons.
I used to buy this stuff all the time from the vendors on the street in Ensenada (only got sick once!), and the drink quickly became one of my favorites. One day I was invited to dinner by a woman living next to the hostel I was staying at in El Sauzal. It was my first time eating homemade Mexican food in Mexico. When I was offered agua fresca de piña, I gladly accepted and was poured a large glass. Everyone hadn't sat down yet, so I didn't drink it right away as I didn't want to seem rude. The mole I was served was very smoky-hot, so I took a big swig of my drink... and almost spit it out across the table. I was expecting what I had partaken of so many times at the market, but this tasted like water that had been used to WASH pineapples, not at all the sweet stuff I was accustomed to. It wasn't exactly bad, it was just not what I was expecting, so it threw me for a loop. After drinking some more, I realized that it actually complimented the food very well, and that if it were sweet, it would have been taken away from the dishes themselves.
Sound interesting? Why don't you try it?
Agua fresca de fresa
Ingredients:
4 cups of sliced strawberries (though, you can use pretty much any juicy fruit that can be pureed. You might have to adjust the amount of fruit depending on how much juice it contains)
1½ cups of water
2-6 tablespoons of sugar, to taste.
2-3 limes, juiced.
Puree strawberries and pour through a fine sieve to eliminate pulp and seeds. In a pitcher, mix strained fruit puree with water and season with sugar and lime juice, to taste.
This will make about 1 quart of agua fresca. It can be easily doubled.