Making the Fruit Blend
Cut a medium-sized seedless watermelon in half. If you want to make watermelon agua fresca, use a large chef’s knife to split the watermelon down the middle. Save one of the halves for later, because half of the watermelon will yield about 5-6 cups (1000-1200 g) of usable melon scoops. You can also cut the watermelon into rounds, cut off the rind, and then slice it up into pieces from there. Alternatively, if you would rather make cantaloupe agua fresca, you can slice a cantaloupe in half and remove the seeds from one half. Then, chop it into chunks and throw them into the blender.
Taste the fruit for sweetness. Try a bit of the fruit to gauge how sweet it is. This can give you an idea of how much sugar syrup you will want to add later. There’s no magic amount of sweetness — it’s just all about personal preference! As a general rule of thumb for watermelon: the darker in color the insides of a watermelon are, the sweeter the melon is.
Use a spoon to scoop the insides of the watermelon into a blender. As you get close to the rind, use your spoon to scrape out as much of the melon as you can. You obviously don’t want any of the white rind, but the red and pinks parts are super yummy!
Pour 2 cups (0.47 L) of cold water into the blender and blend it for 1 minute. Blend on a lower speed for the first 30 seconds, and then move to a higher speed for the remaining 30 seconds. Remember, agua fresca is meant to be a flavored water — not a smoothie or a fruit juice. So don’t worry: it’s supposed to look watery! Hold a towel over the blender if you’re worried about it spraying.
Mixing the Fruit Blend with Sugar Syrup
Run the juice through a mesh strainer into a bowl. If you want to remove any seed fibers or pulp from the fruit liquid and be left with a clear mixture, pour the mixture through a strainer. After the liquid passes through, you will be left with a mush of pulp and seed fibers in the strainer. Go ahead and discard this — you won’t be needing it. It’s also totally acceptable (and often considered more traditional) to not strain the juice. Some people prefer the drink with the pulp in it.
Make a sugar syrup by heating 1 part water and 1 part sugar. Mix 1/2 cup (50 g) of white sugar with 1/2 cup (118 mL) of water and heat in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves, creating a completely clear mixture. Then, let it cool to room temperature.
Pour the sugar syrup into the fruit juice to sweeten to taste. Add in the syrup little bits at a time and taste after each addition. When it’s sufficiently sweet, stop adding the syrup and discard the rest of it.
Serve the drink cold with lemon, lime, or mint garnishes. Agua frescas are best served cold, so add ice or chill your drink in the refrigerator for at least an hour if need be. Garnish with fresh mint leaves or a slice of lemon/lime to add a fresh kick to the flavor! Agua frescas can be stored for up to 3 days in the fridge.
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