While there’s only so much lemonade you can drink
in the hot sun before the sugar starts to go to your head—and boozy drinks pose
a similar, sloppier problem—this is an elixir you could drink all day.
Even if drinking vinegar sounds like a dare, it’s
age-old in lots of places, a means of preserving fruit in pickled, drinkable
form as much as a way to cool off.
Louisa Shafia, author of The
New Persian Kitchen, takes the traditional Iranian version called sekanjabin—which is often made with white vinegar and
sugar—and puts her own modern stamp on it, steeping watermelon in cider vinegar,
honey, and mint. A bonus: After straining to get your drink concentrate, you get
to eat the pickled watermelon (a mild-tempered fruit gets a lot more interesting
once it takes up a little minty brine).
And because it’s a grown-up drink without alcohol,
you can take the tonic on a picnic, at any park, without having to look
side-eyed at cops that might pass by. You can stare them straight in the face
and tell them what you’re drinking: vinegar.
Makes 5 cups (1.2L) concentrate,
enough for twenty 1-cup (240g) servings of tonic
3 cups (710ml) water, plus more
to serve
¼ teaspoon fine sea
salt
1 cup (340g) good-quality
honey
6 cups (910g) coarsely chopped
watermelon
1 cup (25g) tightly packed fresh
spearmint
1 cup (240ml) cider
vinegar
Ice cubes
Chopped watermelon, sliced
unwaxed cucumber, and spearmint, for garnish
1 Bring the water and the salt to a boil in a saucepan.
Add the honey, stir to dissolve, and remove from the heat.
2 Combine the watermelon and mint in a large bowl. Stir
in the honey water and let cool to room temperature, then add the vinegar. Steep
the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours or up to overnight.
3 Strain the mixture and eat the watermelon chunks, if
desired. Pour the concentrate into a clean glass jar, and store in the
refrigerator for up to 1 week.
4 To serve, pour ¼ cup (60ml) of the concentrate into a
glass over ice and dilute with ¾ cup (180ml) of water. Garnish with watermelon,
cucumber, and mint.
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