Cucumber lime agua fresca

In my last visit to Mexico I was gladly surprised to see how aguas frescas have been changed. From the traditional mexican lemonade I used to drink when I was a kid, to the now fancy recipes you can find almost in every corner in Mexico.  Some flavours like ananas and parsley, coconut and strawberries, cactus pear and mint, watermelon and cucumber lime agua fresca, etc, are now available and have start becoming a favourites among mexican people.

Frescas are delicious and vary

Aguas frescas are very popular in my country. The drink can be also made with fruits and they’re fresh and help you stay hydrated and cool during hot days but also have a important role in the mexican tables. My mother used to have always a large pitcher with agua fresca in the refrigerator, so we could accompany our meals with it. Then after lunch if there was any fresca remaining we will drink it during the rest of the day. We also had various fruit trees back in our patio like lemon, mango, plums, nance, coconut, tamarind and others. So my mom never ran out of ideas to make this delicious drink.

Despite agua fresca are mostly made with fruits, some vegetables and herbs are also a good addition to some traditional recipes, like cucumber, parsley or alfalfa. And believe it or not, chia has been present in agua fresca since I can recall. My grandpa’s favourite agua fresca was the simple limón y chia (lemonade with chia seeds).

Cucumber fresca ingredients:

Cucumbers. Thye’re so flavoured in summer season and don’t need to tell you how fresh they are aswell.

Limes & lemons. Anything you have available, even though limes add a particular flavour to this fresca. I like to add both.

Chia seeds. Chia is a nice source of vitamins, you don’t want to miss this.

Basil. You won’t believe how good basil in fresca is until you try it. If basil is too much for you, add some mint leaves instead.

Sugar. You can add anything to sweeten your fresca, like sugar, honey, stevia, coconut sugar etc.

How to make cucumber lime agua fresca

Place cucumbers in a blender and add 2 cups of water and blend until smooth. Strain mixture in a large pitcher. Add sugar, lemon and lime juice, basil leaves  and stir well to combine. Add chia seeds and stir for 1 minute. Pour more water until the pitcher is full of its capacity and add more sugar if needed it.

Give it a good mix and place the pitcher in the fridge. Allow to cool for 2 hours. Serve in tall glasses with ice cubes