Summer Drinks
Recapture a Refreshing Ritual
Recapture a Refreshing Ritual
Drinks mark occasions and customs. It’s not a celebration without champagne, and iced tea has been called the house wine of the South. Drinks are an essential symbol of hospitality. The rituals of tea service and a welcoming punch bowl can be recaptured in a glass. I remember the polished wood tray and stemmed glasses that always greeted my parents’ guests. Those glasses could hardly be filled fast enough.
Drinks can also mark the transition from day to evening, from work to home, from public to private. The cocktail hour has been swallowed up by commuting time and a martini can make the evening a headachy blur, but that time can be recaptured without alcohol. A homemade drink, demanding a bit of attention creates a moment to breathe, sip, reflect, and catch up on the day.
And since you make these drinks yourself, you know what’s in them. A sixteen ounce can of soda contains up to sixteen teaspoons of sugar in one serving. Compare that to the cup of sugar in the Limonada Aromatica recipe that makes a whole pitcher.
Of course, the sugar in sodas is no longer cane sugar, but high fructose corn syrup, which has been blamed for contributing to America’s increasing obesity. Whether corn syrup itself has health effects is under debate. The syrup is used in everything from hamburger buns to beer, and its low cost allows food processors to supersized serving portions without sacrificing profit. In a 2002 study, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that soft drink consumption among adolescents increased more than 200 percent between 1965 and 1996. Making your own drinks with fresh fruits, juices, and yogurt is an easy way to recapture control.
The real reason to make these drinks is because they taste good. Some are meant to be enjoyed freshly made, but others will hold in the refrigerator until you're ready to chill some glasses and chill out.
©2006 Claudia Kousoulas
Limonada Aromatica
serves six
Lemonade is infinitely variable, mixed with tea to pique the balance of tart and sweet, ginger for a spicy spike, or mixed with berries for a glowing glass. This version is tart and sweet with a spicy finish.
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1 inch piece cinnamon stick
4 limes or lemons
Bring water, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon to a boil. Remove the peel from the limes and lemons and add them to the sugar syrup and continue cooking until the liquid becomes syrupy. Remove from heat and add the juice of the lemons and limes and mix well. Use two to three tablespoons for each glass, adding ice, water or club soda.
(from A Yucatan Kitchen, Regional Recipes from Mexico’s Mundo Maya, by Loretta Scott Miller, ©2003 used by permission of the publisher, Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.)
Mango Lassi
(serves four)
You can use fresh mango, but peeling and pureeing them is too much trouble for a hot day. Use canned, sweetened mango puree available at Indian grocery stores. Use what you need to make a glass or a pitcher, then freeze the rest in ice cube trays for next time.
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup sweetened mango puree
12 ice cubes
Combine the ingredients in a blend or food processor and blend until smooth.
Cucumber Ayran
(serves four)
When it’s so hot that sweet tastes sticky, then a cool, savory drink like Ayran is the answer. Yogurt has always been an important part of Turkish cuisine. During Mehmet II’s reign, his kitchen staff included a chief yogurt maker.
11/2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1 cup 1% milk
1 cup ice water
1 medium cucumber, skinned, seeded, and grated
1 tsp salt
cayenne or hot sauce to taste
Combine the yogurt, milk, and water in a bowl and stir until smooth. Stir in the cucumber, salt and hot sauce and serve.
Coffee Granita
(serves four)
Frozen coffee ice can sit in the freezer until you’re ready to scrape it out into a parfait glass and crown it with whipped cream. Be sure to make the coffee strong and sweet so its flavor will come through the cold. This recipe includes coffee shop equivalents, to make it even easier.
3 double espressos, about 1/4 cup strong espresso (instant works too)
8-10 packets of sugar, about 8 to 10 teaspoons
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped and sweetened
Stir the sugar into the coffee until it’s dissolved. Dilute the coffee with cool water to make one cup. Pour the coffee into a pan in which it will be no more than one inch thick and freeze for about two hours. When it’s frozen, run a fork through it to make a slush. Spoon into glasses and top with sweetened whipped cream.
Raspberry Lime Rickey
Boston’s Bailey’s ice cream parlors were the real thing, serving unsteady sundaes overflowing syrup onto silver dishes, and raspberry lime rickeys made only during July and August. They should be made as they are in the soda shop, glass by glass.
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, about 1/2 lime
3 tablespoons raspberry syrup
ice cubes
club soda
Fill a 12 ounce glass with ice and pour the lime juice and raspberry syrup over them. Fill will club soda, stir, and serve.
Chocolate Cherry Chiller
(serves two)
1 cup chocolate milk
6 frozen chocolate milk ice cubes OR
1/2 cup frozen chocolate yogurt
1 cup frozen pitted cherries
In a blender, combine the chocolate milk, cherries and frozen yogurt. Process until smooth.
(from The Smoothies Bible, by Pat Crocker, Robert Rose Inc.)
Best Iced Tea Ever (South Carolina)
(makes two quarts)
This was served at Silver Teas, a tradition brought to Dori Sanders’ mountain farm by her Aunt Vestula. For women only, the guests would leave the hostess a few silver coins before enjoying a few special treats and the chance to socialize. The cups and saucers never matched, but Sanders’ remembers Silver Teas as “quaint and deeply touching.”
1 generous cup sugar
2 quarts cold water
juice and rind (in strips) of two lemons
5 regular tea bags
Combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and add the lemon rind and tea bags, cover the pan, and let steep for twenty minutes. Strain into a large pitcher, chill and serve.
(adapted from Dori Sanders’ Country Cooking, by Dori Sanders, ©1995, reprinted by permission of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)
serves six
Lemonade is infinitely variable, mixed with tea to pique the balance of tart and sweet, ginger for a spicy spike, or mixed with berries for a glowing glass. This version is tart and sweet with a spicy finish.
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1 inch piece cinnamon stick
4 limes or lemons
Bring water, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon to a boil. Remove the peel from the limes and lemons and add them to the sugar syrup and continue cooking until the liquid becomes syrupy. Remove from heat and add the juice of the lemons and limes and mix well. Use two to three tablespoons for each glass, adding ice, water or club soda.
(from A Yucatan Kitchen, Regional Recipes from Mexico’s Mundo Maya, by Loretta Scott Miller, ©2003 used by permission of the publisher, Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.)
Mango Lassi
(serves four)
You can use fresh mango, but peeling and pureeing them is too much trouble for a hot day. Use canned, sweetened mango puree available at Indian grocery stores. Use what you need to make a glass or a pitcher, then freeze the rest in ice cube trays for next time.
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup sweetened mango puree
12 ice cubes
Combine the ingredients in a blend or food processor and blend until smooth.
Cucumber Ayran
(serves four)
When it’s so hot that sweet tastes sticky, then a cool, savory drink like Ayran is the answer. Yogurt has always been an important part of Turkish cuisine. During Mehmet II’s reign, his kitchen staff included a chief yogurt maker.
11/2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1 cup 1% milk
1 cup ice water
1 medium cucumber, skinned, seeded, and grated
1 tsp salt
cayenne or hot sauce to taste
Combine the yogurt, milk, and water in a bowl and stir until smooth. Stir in the cucumber, salt and hot sauce and serve.
Coffee Granita
(serves four)
Frozen coffee ice can sit in the freezer until you’re ready to scrape it out into a parfait glass and crown it with whipped cream. Be sure to make the coffee strong and sweet so its flavor will come through the cold. This recipe includes coffee shop equivalents, to make it even easier.
3 double espressos, about 1/4 cup strong espresso (instant works too)
8-10 packets of sugar, about 8 to 10 teaspoons
1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream, whipped and sweetened
Stir the sugar into the coffee until it’s dissolved. Dilute the coffee with cool water to make one cup. Pour the coffee into a pan in which it will be no more than one inch thick and freeze for about two hours. When it’s frozen, run a fork through it to make a slush. Spoon into glasses and top with sweetened whipped cream.
Raspberry Lime Rickey
Boston’s Bailey’s ice cream parlors were the real thing, serving unsteady sundaes overflowing syrup onto silver dishes, and raspberry lime rickeys made only during July and August. They should be made as they are in the soda shop, glass by glass.
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, about 1/2 lime
3 tablespoons raspberry syrup
ice cubes
club soda
Fill a 12 ounce glass with ice and pour the lime juice and raspberry syrup over them. Fill will club soda, stir, and serve.
Chocolate Cherry Chiller
(serves two)
1 cup chocolate milk
6 frozen chocolate milk ice cubes OR
1/2 cup frozen chocolate yogurt
1 cup frozen pitted cherries
In a blender, combine the chocolate milk, cherries and frozen yogurt. Process until smooth.
(from The Smoothies Bible, by Pat Crocker, Robert Rose Inc.)
Best Iced Tea Ever (South Carolina)
(makes two quarts)
This was served at Silver Teas, a tradition brought to Dori Sanders’ mountain farm by her Aunt Vestula. For women only, the guests would leave the hostess a few silver coins before enjoying a few special treats and the chance to socialize. The cups and saucers never matched, but Sanders’ remembers Silver Teas as “quaint and deeply touching.”
1 generous cup sugar
2 quarts cold water
juice and rind (in strips) of two lemons
5 regular tea bags
Combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat and add the lemon rind and tea bags, cover the pan, and let steep for twenty minutes. Strain into a large pitcher, chill and serve.
(adapted from Dori Sanders’ Country Cooking, by Dori Sanders, ©1995, reprinted by permission of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill)