Tropical Lemonade with a Brazilian Twist

 

I’m sure that by now you have all heard, and grown tired of, Brazilian lemonade. Not this one, you haven’t. I took the basic recipe for Brazilian lemonade, and turned it into an adult version that is knock-your-socks-off unbelievably good. The original recipe is kid friendly, calling for 3 cups of water as the liquid. I decided to use one cup of water, one cup of coconut water, and one cup of coconut rum. Oh, mama! If you want to take a trip to the tropics without leaving your chair, this is for you.

 Now, you may be wondering why something that employs the use of limes only is called lemonade. Apparently it has something to do with translation. In Portuguese, limão is the term for both limes and lemons, ergo; any drink made with either of these citrus fruits is called limonada, that translated to the English “lemonade.” In my version, because I substituted some of the water with coconut water and coconut rum, I added the word “tropical,” but stuck with the original term of “lemonade,” despite using the limes. Whatever you want to call it, it is sensational.

Tropical Lemonade with a Brazilian Twist

 2 Melissa’s Organic limes

1 c. water

1 c. coconut water

1 c. coconut rum

½ c. sugar

3 T. sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ c. ice cubes

 Wash limes to within an inch of their lives. (I used this vegetable scrubber.) Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges. Leave the peels on!

Place limes in a blender with water, coconut water, rum, and sugar. Blend until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove rinds, and return to the blender. Add sweetened condensed milk and ice cubes, and blend a final time. Serve in a tall glass, garnished with a slice of lime. (Thereafter, do not operate any heavy machinery.)

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Making Coconut Ice

If you have never had the pleasure of sipping cool, refreshing coconut water directly out of a young coconut, then you are in for a real treat.

A coconut tool makes drilling a hole easy, but if not a Dremel or drill will do the trick. Once the hole is drilled, carefully insert a straw into the top and enjoy a highly nutritious, very delicious hydrating drink to take you through the scorching weather of summer. The tender flesh of this immature coconut can be scooped out with a spoon and eaten as a delicious treat, but there is another way to make use of this coconut and that is by making ice cubes out of the water.

After you drill your hole into the top, empty the contents into an ice cube tray. The water from one coconut fills one ice cube tray just perfectly. A bit of sediment may appear as the result of a flaking off of the interior, and that is just fine. After filling, place the tray into the freezer, and when the coconut water has turned to ice, pop the cubes out and into a freezer storage bag for later use.

They come in very handy in making smoothies and those tropical summer cocktails that we all love. The ice is also refreshing on its own when crushed and served in a chilled dessert dish. You will wonder how you ever got by without this wonderfully flavorful and refreshing coconut water.

Both the coconut and coconut tool are available from Melissa’s Produce.  Run, don’t walk, to get yours.  It’s going to be a long, hot summer!

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