Colombian Culture Posts: Food #3

My favorite Colombian drink is not coffee. It is Limonada. Here is the recipe straight from Abuelita Carmen. It serves about 4 - 5 slushy 8 oz. limonadas. LIMONADA a la Abuelita Carmen Take 3 whole limes, wash and cut off only the tips. Then slice the limes in half and place in your blender. Add about 2 1/2 cups of cold water. Blend (rind and all) for about 20-40 seconds -- do not blend longer or the limonada will become bitter. You will know that you have blended enough when the limes are chopped up in penny size peices. Take a good strainer and strain the water/juice into a container --let all of the water strain out ---I use the back of a spoon to push the juice through the strainer. Then, dump the pulp in the garbage disposal (it makes for a great scent when you flick it on). Rinse out the blender so it is clean. Put the juice back in with about 3-4 heaping Tablespoons of Sugar (sometimes you need a little more depending on how bitter the limes are) and a bunch of ice (3-4 cups). Then blend. Makes a delicious slushy limonada. You can put in less ice if you want it more like a drink, but you will have to offset with more water to taste. As with any Abuelita Carmen recipe, it is not an exact science. A handful of this, a pinch of that, and her daughter-in-law trying to figure out the non-metric equivalents for everything. But, we do make this at home all the time in the summer, and I think that this is closest thing you'll get to a recipe. ENJOY!!:cheer: