Home / Recipes / Drinks / Gallon Agua Fresca
Gallon Agua Fresca
Save this recipe the way grandma did
Print it as a 4x6 card and keep it in our Recipe Box.
Albino Monkey Recipe Box
A wooden box with 9 engraved wood dividers and 100 blank 4x6 cards. Somewhere for the recipes worth keeping.
4.6★ from 110 ratings on Amazon · $27.99
Enter the code at Amazon checkout. Ships from Amazon, and every purchase helps care for Freeman. Add-ons: 100 refill cards · 100 card sleeves. This recipe uses the XXL Silicone Bags, Clear (code CLEARBAG10).
Half a watermelon, a lime and some water makes about a gallon of the best thing to drink in August, and it takes ten minutes. Agua fresca is not lemonade and not juice: it is fruit blended with water until it is barely thicker than water, which is why it goes down like nothing else in the heat. It does not keep, so make it the day you want it. A pair of see-through XXL bags is the right vessel because the fruit settles and you can watch it, and because a bag lying flat chills far faster in the fridge than a pitcher does.
Ingredients
- 12 cups cubed seedless watermelon, about half a large melon
- 8 cups cold water
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, about 4 limes
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 small bunch fresh mint, optional
- Ice, to serve
Directions
- Blend the watermelon in batches with 2 cups of the water until completely smooth, about 30 seconds a batch.
- Strain each batch through a fine sieve into a large bowl, pressing lightly with a spoon. Do not force the pulp through. You want the juice, not the fiber.
- Stir in the remaining water, the lime juice, sugar and salt. The salt is not optional. A quarter teaspoon in a gallon does not taste salty, it makes the fruit taste more like itself.
- Taste and adjust. Melons vary a lot, so you may need more sugar or more lime. Aim for something a little tarter than you think, since ice will dilute it.
- Divide between the two Clear XXL bags, about half a gallon in each, and add a few mint sprigs to each if using. Press out the air, seal, and lay them flat in the fridge for an hour.
- Serve over plenty of ice. Shake the bag first, because it separates within about twenty minutes.
Tips and variations
- Strain gently. Pressing the pulp through makes the drink thick and cloudy instead of clean and light.
- The salt matters more than the sugar. Add it before you decide the drink needs sweetening.
- Cantaloupe, strawberry, pineapple and cucumber all work with the same ratios. Cucumber and lime is the best of them.
- Drink it the same day. By day two the fruit has gone flat and no amount of lime brings it back.
- For a party, freeze 2 cups of the finished agua fresca as ice cubes so the pitcher does not water down.
The bags this recipe is built around
A gallon of agua fresca has nowhere to live in most fridges, and it separates, so you want to see it. The Clear XXL bags come as a set of two at 102oz each, so the batch splits neatly with half a gallon and room to spare in each. They chill far faster lying flat than a pitcher does standing up, and the leakproof seal means you can shake a bag to remix it without making a mess.
See the Clear XXL Bags
Common questions
- What is agua fresca
- A light Mexican fruit drink made by blending fresh fruit with water, lime and a little sugar, then straining it. It is far thinner than juice and meant to be drunk cold in quantity.
- How long does agua fresca last
- One day in the fridge at best. Fresh fruit and water separate and lose flavor quickly, so make it the day you plan to drink it.
- Do I have to strain agua fresca
- Yes for watermelon and melon, where the fiber makes it thick and grainy. Strawberry and pineapple can be left unstrained if you prefer more body.
- Why does my agua fresca separate
- Because it is fruit and water with nothing holding them together. That is normal. Shake or stir before each pour.
More drink recipes
Keep the ones that work
Copy this one onto a 4x6 card. Title across the top, the seven ingredients down the left, the six steps down the right, and Makes 1 gallon, Prep 10 min along the header. File it behind the Drinks divider. Built to outlast the screenshot.
See the Recipe Box
