Refreshing Ades

The temps are up. The humidity is crushing. It's time to make refreshing thirst quenching ades that cool you down. They're easy to recreate and wonderful to sip, especially on a hot night.

One of the most refreshing and popular is agua fresca. This can be made with any fresh fruit and even veggies such as cucumber. It goes back to Aztec times when it was made to appease the gods' thirst. Now it can satisfy ours.It's simply fresh chopped fruit, water, and sugar. They can be made in a blender or using an immersion blender. A fun one is the watermelon  flavored, made with about four cups of watermelon chunks  , muddled with three cups of water, two tablespoons of sugar and the juice of one lime. It's a quick blitz and then serve over ice. Another fun and tropical twist is using pineapple. You may not need as much sugar for this one. For a truly refreshing agua fresca, think cucumbers.  You will need more sugar - about half a cup for two cucumbers and one half cup of lime juice.Mint leaves can be added for more refreshment.Another great cooler from Mexico is horchata. Again, this is another easy mix. It's taking long grained white rice that's been cooked, along with almonds and cinnamon sticks and blitzing them in a blender or with an immersion blender.It;'s then adding water and vanilla. Milk is added when it's ready to be chilled for a few hours.

Ades are an old fashioned way to quench your thirst when the temps go high. One of the most popular is lemonade. Keep in mind that the recipe starts with simple syrup and not sugar tossed in. Sugar will sink to the pitcher's bottom and you'll be left with a sour drink. Simple syrup is just that, a cooked syrup made with only a cup of sugar and  a cup of water boiled together. It;s then stirring them together over a low flame until a syrup is created.  You can add fresh lemon juice if you want a more lemony flavor. It's then adding one cup of fresh or bottled lemon juice and two to three cups of ice cold water. Mix and chill. You can add a few to a 1/3 cup crushed fresh mint leaves if you want.Limeade is another refreshing summer cooler. It takes seven large limes and five cups of water. Add simple syrup to sweeten it and served, iced with sliced limes. You can also do the same with oranges for a refreshing hot afternoon treat.  You'll need seven to eight medium sized oranges along with  a third of a cup of lemon juice to balance the flavor. Again use about a  half cup of the simple syrup to sweeten the drink.

This is the time of year for thirst quenching drinks. Make up an icy pitcher of any of them to cool off.They're the perfect sip for a hot , steamy day.

Cool Ades

Now with the hot weather and here with a vengeance , it's time to cool off.Nothing fits the bill better than a large icy glass of either an ade  fruit infused ice tea.A drink made with fresh fruit juice is a wonderful thirst quencher , especially during a hot , sweltering day. They're also easy to make

Lemonade is the classic summertime drink. Surprisingly it has been around since 700 AD and was first imbibed by the Chinese and Northern Indians. This is pure simplicity to make.Just take five lemons (any will do) extract the juice and heat with sugar.The sugar should be completely dissolved ,b basically making a variation of a simple sugar.  Wait until this cools  and then add it and four cups of ice water to a jug Add ice and lemon slices. Another satisfying ade is lime. Again this is an easy recipe. As with lemon, take four to five limes and zest. Add this,along with granulated sugar to a saucepan of water. When this is boiled  then pour into a pitcher already filled with the lime juice and iced water.

Fruit infused ice teas are also good during these hot as Hades days.,There are even pitchers you can buy that have special chambers to put fruit. You can also finely mince fruit too (and there's the added treat of eating it after you've finished the tea).The best tea to  use is Earl Grey. This has the basic tea flavor without any added ones. Use  whatever fruit you have which, right now is plenty, Try fresh cut strawberries or blueberries.  Before you add the fruit, sample it , to make sure that it;s not tart.if that's the case , you can first cook it in a simple sugar and water bath. Use this syrup as a flavoring them to your tea..

This is definitely the time for a cooling ade to get you through these hellish days.Whip up an ade or a fruity tea. You';ll feel made in the shade with a big ice glass of refreshment at your side.