NATIONAL WATERMELON DAY

August 3—National Watermelon Day.  It’s hot.  A cold slice of melon sounds perfect.  Watermelon seeds were found in King Tut’s tomb—so this good, hot weather food has been around for a while.  More recently, at least according to those wonderful community and church cookbooks, there’s a lot more to do with watermelon than just slicing it.

Tucked into even those early cookbooks, there were instructions for drinking the melons—with or without spirits.  This may be the simplest, most adaptable “recipe” I’ve ever shared—again, with or without spirits!  When you try it, think of all the hot summer afternoons over the years, made better by some version of this drink.  Then join the crowd. 

Recipe:

Scoop the reddest flesh out of the melon into a large bowl–remove the black seeds. 

Add a little sweetener—sugar, honey, syrup, a sweet fruit cordial like Triple Sec. 

Squeeze ½-1 lime into bowl (microwave uncut lime for 20 seconds to release the juice). 

Add light spirits if using, usually rum or vodka—1 ½ oz for each 6 oz glass—or to taste. 

Back in the day, there were no blenders for the next step—so use a potato masher to soften up the melon and combine ingredients. 

Spoon mixture into ice-filled glasses.    Stir, and enjoy the taste of summer.

The Kitchen Hive