Celebrate this Labor Day with Summer’s juiciest fruit: Watermelon.
This post comes to us from noted author, blogger and food-lover Maggie Battista of EATBOUTIQUE.
There are fifteen thousand ways to be assured sure that the summer harvest is in full swing right now, and chomping into the sweet flesh of a watermelon leaves no doubt. Whether tiny and red, a sweet yellow variety, or even a big, bright pink fruit, every melon is just waiting to be devoured come those excruciatingly hot days of one of the very best seasons. (Spring and fall are up there for me, too, because, of course. But there’s just something about summer, the antidote to months of snow.)
Just as they are, melons are refreshing and perfect but, sometimes, I like to mess with a good thing. Sprinkle some chili powder and grated lime zest (the green outer layer of a lime) on top of cut melon, and you may not have it any other way. Juice just-cut melon chunks for a quick rush of flavor (and natural sugar). You could, also, do as I do most summer weekends and whiz up these Watermelon Margaritas.
The watermelon juice in this recipe doesn’t require a juicer, just a regular blender. You can strain the final juice if you’d like a neater finished drink, but I can’t be bothered to do the extra step because it’s summer and I want to optimize my outside time. If maple syrup isn’t handy, replace it with simple syrup or even agave syrup.
My recipe makes a pitcher. Why make any less, right? There’s really no other way to drink the stuff but with a group.
Really, it’s a party waiting to happen and all about a celebrating a summer season worth savoring.
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Watermelon Margaritas
Refreshing, Summer and delicious, the watermelon margaritas will cap off the summer season with a delicious toast!
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- 1lbs watermelon fruit(sans peel and seeds, if necessary)
- 4oz water
- 1/2cup sea salt
- 1tsp chili powder
- 8oz tequila
- 2oz orange liqueuer
- 3oz lime juice(from about 3 limes)
- 1oz maple syrup
- Extra Lime wedges, for garnish
- Watermelon chunks, for garnish (optional)
- In a blender, whiz up the watermelon and water until a fine juice forms. The final juice should amount to about 2 cups. Set aside.
- On a small flat plate, mix together sea salt and chili powder until the salt is well flecked with chili powder. Set aside.
- In a large pitcher, add the 2 cups watermelon juice, tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice and maple syrup. Stir a few times until well blended
- Rub a wedge of lime around the rim of a glass. Dip the rim in the chili salt (or just sea salt). Fill the glass with ice and pour Watermelon Margarita over ice.
- Garnish with a lime wedge or a small chunk of watermelon.
Maggie Battista is the founder and director of Eat Boutique (www.eatboutique.com), an award-winning small-batch foods retailer and blog. Eat Boutique and Maggie’s work have been featured on the Cooking Channel, Daily Candy, Food52, Style Me Pretty, and in the pages of the Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. Her first cookbook, Food Gift Love: More Than 100 Recipes to Make, Wrap, & Share, will be released in October 2015 and is available to order now.
Maggie will be joining the Kennebunkport Resort Collection to showcase her book over the Halloween Holiday to teach a class on Truffle Making and sparkling wine cocktails. Tickets can be purchased here.
Photo credits: White Loft Studio/Heidi Murphy
Want to stay in Kennebunkport and enjoy the food and spectacular scenery? The Kennebunkport Resort Collection is home to eight hotels and seven world-class restaurants.
In town Kennebunkport over Labor Day? Come out and try the Tides Beach Club Watermelon Cosmopolitan for a “taste of summer.”
