This week I took my son food shopping with me, something I usually try to avoid because I end up spending double. He asked to buy watermelon, and it seemed like a great idea to me too. The only problem was once we got home and tried to watermelon we realized it was unflavored and almost inedible. I hate when that happens! For the next five days I looked at the half a sour watermelon in my fridge and contemplated what to do.
So if you read my Margarita post last week you know I'm a fan of afternoon cocktails. I recently bought a bottle of top shelf Mezcal at an local street fair before any of this began, we now call this period "the olden days". I kept looking at that watermelon and the mezcal and wanted to make something. So here is what I did:
I used the heart of the watermelon, if you had a riper melon you could probably use all the way to the rind. Even with just the center it filled my blender to the top. I blended on LOW. I have a Vitamix blender so I was able to blend on low and tamp down the watermelon. I didn't need to add any water. By blending on very low speed the seeds all stayed whole!! I added a half a cup of sugar. You could add more sugar here, but I wouldn't add less. At this point I had liquid watermelon with all the whole black seeds spinning around in my vitamix. I strained the mess through a fine colander and ended up with sweet lightly pulpy syrup. I nervously tasted it and it was DELICIOUS. Store in a glass jar in the fridge up to a week.
Now the good part!! The cocktail recipe! My favorite part... Skip the alcohol for a refreshing agua fresca!
1 shot alcohol (I chose mezcal)
2-3 shots homemade watermelon syrup
juice from one lime
Add to shaker filled with ice. Shake for 15 seconds all pour in ice filled glass. I poured mine into a tall glass and added water. Diego drank his in a whiskey glass on the rocks. Obsidian had his lemonade style without the alcohol shot and with added water. Let us know if you try!
