Agua Fresca 6: Pungent, Spicy Limonadas
About time for another agua fresca. Or a couple actually, based on that old staple limonada but spiced up. In Mexico, limonada is always made with what in the United States are called Key Limes, that is small limes about half the size of a lemon with lots of seeds. These cost nothing in Mexico, currently between 3 and 8 pesos a kilo, that is round about 25 US cents a pound. No wonder limonada is one of the favorite aguas. If you can’t get Key Limes you can substitute the large seedless limes that are often called Persian limes, or even lemons, though the taste won’t be the same.
To make limonada by the glass.
You can make a single glass in a moment. For an 8 oz glass squeeze one lime into the glass, fill the glass with water, and stir in about 2 teaspoons of sugar.
I like my limonada at room temperature but you can of course add ice cubes. Or you can make it sparkling with soda water.
Ginger Limonada
When I lived in Hawaii, I loved the ginger-lemonade that was served in a coffee shop in Manoa Marketplace north of the University. I suspect that they simply tipped a packet of ginger-flavored sugar into their standard lemonade. You could buy these packets in all the Southeast Asian stores in town. In Mexico that’s not possible.
So either you need to take a thumb sized piece of fresh ginger and grate it in. Japanese graters are excellent for this as they produce very fine hairs of ginger.
Or, if you keep a stash of frozen ground ginger in the freezer, just defrost one ice cube of this and add about half to the glass. I’m sure you can think of things to do with the other half.
(To make frozen ground ginger, very handy for all kinds of Asian cooking, simply take a couple of hands of nice plump shiny ginger, cut them in to pieces and take off any tough bits, and whirl in the food processor with enough water to make a paste. Put in ice cube trays in the freezer and when they are thoroughly frozen pop out into a plastic bag).
Black pepper limonada (or nimbo paani)
This is a recipe I’ve taken from Raghavan Iyer‘s 660 Curries (Workman: New York, 2008), an enticing compendium.
Just take your glass of limonada, add a good pinch of salt and a good pinch of coarsely ground black pepper. Delicious and very thirst quenching if you are dehydrated.
And, added, thanks to Rajogopal Sukamar
Shikanji
Lemon juice + sugar + water + ice + Kala Namak (Black Salt). This black salt (i don’t how exactly it is produced), has a classic smell and flavor that significantly enhances the taste of the lemon juice.
Ruminations
1. This is a reminder that what Mexicans call agua fresca is part of a great family of soft drinks that go way back in history, probably originated in India, and that spread enormously with the expansion of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, all of which valued them highly. And from Islam they spread north into Europe and with the Spanish across the Atlantic to the Americas. More of that history with subsequent aguas.
2. It’s also a reminder that that like most food and drink, they had medicinal roots. The pungent ginger or black pepper balance the cool lime in the humoral system that was the basic theory of nutrition in much of the world until two or three centuries ago and that is still widely adhered to today.
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An agua fresca is one of the great joys of the Mexican kitchen. It´s a lightly sweetened long drink, usually fruit based but not always. These drinks are part of a great family of beverages that spread far beyond Mexico. I’m exploring them at the rate of about one a week for a full year.
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Rachel,
Interesting post. You covered Nimbu paani from India. We also have something called Shikanji – which is a lemon juice + sugar + water + ice + Kala Namak (Black Salt). This black salt (i don’t how exactly it is produced), has a classic smell and flavor that significantly enhances the taste of the lemon juice. This same black salt is also used to enhance Sugarcane Juice which is another popular summer drink in India.
Rachel,
These days most people either don’t know or don’t remember that before Coca-Cola people made refreshing drinks from barley water. Oddly enough drinking barley water is indigenous to both England and Mexico where people have been drinking it to cool off for thousands of years. In Mexico it is called “agua de cebada” and forms the base for a number of beverages. In England (where I have never been) it is my understanding that it is usually taken with lemon. Here in Guanajuato people use it to make “tepache” which is a pineapple drink and also “cebadina” which is a very curious pink drink made fizzy by adding bicarbonate of soda.
Thanks to both of you. Rajagopal, I’m going to bump your description up in to the post so that it’s all nicely grouped together.
Bob, thank you, not only is the whole family of barley drinks high on my list but so is cebadina. I’ve been looking for it everywhere and not been able to find it. I do know something about it though so I’ll write it up and perhaps if you come across it somewhere you could take a photo? Hmm, interesting that you know people who use barley for tepache (also on the upcoming list). I have only made it or seen it made with fruit.
Rachel,
The barley in the tepache is to help it ferment. The fermented fruit by itself doesn’t give it enough kick :)
Rachel,
So the tradition of Agua Fresca making was carried to Mexico by the Spaniards? Is there any evidence of Pre-Columbian drinks similar in Meso-america?
Alex, We simply don’t know. Very little is known of pre-hispanic cuisine for all the reams that have been written on it.
I’ll post soon on where I think the agua fresca/agua de sabor tradition comes from.
Obviously flavoring water in some way must have been frequently done around the world. If I had to bet on anything being pre-hispanic it would be the tepache family that’s been mentioned once or twice and that I will come back to later.
Rachel