Strawberry Watermelon Juice
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Strawberries and watermelon blended together, sweetened lightly and chilled. There is no country attached to it and none is implied, it is a two-fruit juice, and its appeal is the pairing rather than any tradition. The combination works for a straightforward reason. Watermelon is more than nine-tenths water and its sweetness is mild and slightly vegetal, which makes it refreshing but thin on its own. Strawberries are far more aromatic and carry a gentle acidity. Put together, the strawberry supplies the flavour and the tartness that watermelon lacks, and the watermelon supplies the volume and the cooling quality that a pure strawberry juice would not have. The colour, a deep pink, comes from both. Whether it needs sweetening at all depends entirely on the fruit. A ripe summer watermelon and properly ripe strawberries need nothing; out-of-season fruit needs help, which is why the honey is written as optional. Africa has a long and varied tradition of fruit drinks, bissap from hibiscus, tamarind juice, tigernut drink, palm wine, and several of them are on this site. This is not one of them, and it sits in Worldwide Recipes accordingly, with its URL unchanged.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Wash the strawberries and pull off the green tops, then halve them so they blend more easily.
- 2
Cut the watermelon into small cubes, picking out any seeds as you go.
- 3
Put the strawberries and watermelon into a blender.
- 4
Taste the fruit first, then sweeten with a tablespoon or two of honey or sugar only if it needs it.
- 5
Blend until smooth and well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- 6
For a smoother juice without pulp or seed fragments, pass it through a fine-mesh strainer or a piece of muslin into a jug.
- 7
Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving, and pour over ice.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Deborah Olayiwola- Taste the fruit before you sweeten anything. Ripe summer fruit needs nothing at all, and sweetening by habit is how a fresh juice ends up cloying.
- Chill the fruit before blending if you can. It keeps the juice cold without watering it down with ice.
- Strain it if you want a clean drink. Watermelon leaves a fine pulp that separates in the glass otherwise.
- Freeze the watermelon cubes for a thicker, slushier result that needs no ice at all.
- A squeeze of lime lifts the whole thing and stops it tasting flat, which is the main risk with two sweet fruits.
- Drink it the day it is made. Fresh fruit juice separates and dulls within hours, even refrigerated.
Questions cooks ask
Why do strawberry and watermelon go together?
They cover each other's weaknesses. Watermelon is over ninety per cent water with a mild, faintly vegetal sweetness, refreshing but thin on its own. Strawberries are far more aromatic and carry a light acidity that gives the drink some structure. The result has the cooling quality of watermelon and the flavour of strawberry, and the two combine into a deep pink that neither produces alone.
Do I need to add sugar?
Only if the fruit needs it, which is why the recipe treats it as optional. Properly ripe watermelon and in-season strawberries are sweet enough on their own, and adding sugar out of habit makes the drink heavy. Out-of-season or underripe fruit is a different matter, taste the blended juice first, then sweeten a spoonful at a time. Honey dissolves better if you warm it slightly first.
Can I make it ahead?
Not by much. Fresh fruit juice with no preservatives separates within a few hours and the flavour dulls noticeably by the next day, even refrigerated. Half an hour to an hour in the fridge is ideal, enough to chill it properly without losing anything. If you need to prepare in advance, cut and chill the fruit rather than blending it, and blend just before serving.
Is this an African drink?
No, and none is claimed. It sits in Worldwide Recipes under Global, with its URL unchanged so any existing search traffic to the page is preserved. Africa has an extensive tradition of fruit and plant drinks of its own, bissap made from hibiscus, tamarind juice, tigernut drink and palm wine among them, and several of those have their own recipes on this site.
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