Rachel Laudan

Here’s a nice simple agua fresca that is also one of the best: agua de sandia or watermelon water. You simply take a nice piece of watermelon and cut part of it up into chunks. The slow part is picking out the seeds. Then you put the chunks in the blender and whirl with water. Pour into a pitcher and dilute to a consistency not much thicker than lemonade. If you have a sweet watermelon you don’t need any sugar. And you have this gorgeous nail-color pink drink that tastes as good as it looks.

And although I haven’t tried it, wouldn’t a yellow watermelon make a lovely alternative? Or both for a party? And if the watermelon is not the best and ripest, a squeeze of lime does wonders to bring out the flavor.