Agua Fresca (or ‘cool water’) is just a mixture of equal amounts water and fruits with sugar. It is generally a non alcoholic drink.

Agua Fresca is extremely refreshing and replenishing. You control the amount of sugar, the intensity of the fruit and you can also add different fruits and seeds into the mix. We love agua fresca during the summer.

They are very easy to make.

Just blend your favorite fruit with a cup of water, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar – you can blend in the seeds or other fruits. Strain through a sieve or a fine mesh and then pour the mixture with the remaining water.

Some people like to add chia and hemp seeds to their mix just to boost their drink. Some other people like to boost their drink by adding vodka or even rum.

I decided to use cherries and make the fruit mixture a little extra sweet and strong since we were going to serve it with huge amounts of ice. I used 4 cups of cherries, and instead of using 4 cups of water I used 3.

You can serve it with pieces of fruit as garnish and also grind a leaf of mint in the glass before you pour the drink, it is totally up to you.

It always rains a lot here in St Pete during the summer. However, it has been so bad that we haven’t been able to enjoy the beach, which has also made my food photo sessions extremely hard… no light = no photos  🙁

I will keep it short as I don’t really have lots of news to share …I can’t wait for Game of Thrones on Sunday, I wonder if any of you is a big fan of the show as we are. We have so many discussions and speculations about what’s going to happen this season. I haven’t met anyone that is not passionate about discussing this show, if you think about it it’s really silly… haha!

Cherry Agua Fresca

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

4 cups of  fresh cherries, pitted and halved

1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar – I used Truvia

3-4 cups of fresh water

Optional:

Additional cherries and fresh mint for garnish

Instructions

Combine the cherries, 1 cup water, and sugar in a blender and process until smooth.

Strain through a fine sieve and pour into a serving jug. Add the remaining water and mix.

Adjust sugar and water according to the desired intensity and sweetness.

Serve with lots of ice and fresh cherries.