Tamarind Agua Fresca
Easy, homemade recipe for Tamarind Agua Fresca (Agua Fresca de Tamarindo).
Servings 8 people
Ingredients
- 1 lb tamarind
- ice (as needed)
- 16 cups water
- 0.5 cups sugar (optional - see notes below)
Instructions
- Peel the fruits and place them in a pot. It might take you some time to peel them the first time, they're not the easiest fruit to peel, While peeling, remove the veins on both sides of the fruit as well.
- Cover them in water and turn heat to high, once the water boil, lower heat to medium and cover pot. Add half cup of sugar. Also note *** at bottom of recipe about sweeteners and sugar quantity.
- I let boil for about 20 minutes.
- Let the mix chill a bit. Get a pitcher and a metal strainer that fits well on the top of the pitcher. Start pouring the boiled fruits in. Water will pour through but fruits will remain on top. Start using a big spoon to smash the pulp of the tamarind fruits through the strainer. Repeat until you are done. Then fill the pitcher with cold water. Mix well and let it chill for at least 90 minutes on the refrigerator.
- Serve over ice. Garnish as desired.
Notes
*** Please note that most people would use 1-2 cups of sugar for 1 lb of tamarind. As a family we don't like very sweet drinks so I only used half a cup. Also, you can use your sweetener of choice if you don't like sugar. Not knowing how well the other sweeteners blend when boiling, I would advise to add them to your cup individually when serving the drink and mix it well.
*** Most agua frescas use lime as garnish but I didn't include limes in the tamarind one because this fruit already has a degree of tartness to it, so I didn't want to add more. Feel free to garnish with lime, mint or other garnishes as you desire.
*** Pitcher size I used is about 8 drinking water glasses (approximately 16 measuring cups)