Cool Off with Watermelon Agua Fresca

Hope you're all enjoying a fantastic Fourth of July! So when you're all gathering around the table for some great grilled eats (funny, my invitation got lost I guess), you can serve up this cooling agua fresca simply made from watermelon.

I'm a big fan of agua fresca, especially made from melon juices. The steps are pretty simple, but I have to admit that it's bit labor intensive in one part you'll find out below. But it's a good way to use up watermelon that might not be the best on its own. You know which ones I mean. I'm talking about watermelon that's mushy and has too much water, not making it as crisp to eat by itself. So when I cut into a watermelon and it's like that, I puree it to make agua fresca.

Here's the steps to making agua fresca. It's a real guess about measurements because a lot depends on the juice you get from the watermelon. But here's what I do:

Step 1: Cut your watermelon into small one-inch chunks to make it easy to puree. (Remove rind. If you're making this for a party, save some watermelon pieces for garnish.) Place into a juicer, blender, or use a hand blender to puree the watermelon chunks.

Step 2: This is the labor-intensive part, strain your puree through a sieve or fine-mesh strainer to remove any pulp and seeds.

Step 3: Add water to your watermelon juice. I do about one part water to two part juice, but some recipes might add more water. (When you add more water, that means you need to add more sugar, so I tend to go with less water.)

Step 4: Add sugar and then refrigerate to let sugar dissolve. For about 1 gallon of watermelon agua fresca, I add about 2 tablespoon of sugar. You can add to taste.

And that's how you make agua fresca! It's so refreshing. The thing about agua fresca is because it's made with natural fruit, the fruit does settle so you need to stir it up before serving. Enjoy!