Passion Fruit Agua Fresca – Agua Fresca de Maracuyá

Recently, our days have been filled with sunshine and warm weather. A bit of California sunshine also made its way to Colorado when my friend from San Diego mailed me a box of maracuyás. This certainly brightened my spirits and inspired me to develop several recipes that I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks. I’m starting with a classic agua fresca that packs a tropical punch. 

Enjoy and stay cool,

Lola

These unconventional beauties are more commonly known as passion fruit. Their sweet-tart pulp can be transformed into a fun libation or dessert. Their seeds add fun texture to everything, too. While vacationing in Panama, I had agua de maracuyá every morning. It wasn’t overly sweet, which I loved and tried to replicate in my recipe. 

Passion fruit has recently gained attention because it is a rich source of powerful antioxidants and contains high levels of vitamins C and A, which are important for skin, vision, and the immune system.

Ingredients:
4 cups water
5 passion fruits, pulp only
3-4 tablespoons cane sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Preparation:
Add ingredients to blender and blend on low for 30 seconds. I like to blend on low to keep seeds in tact because they are edible and are fun to chew on because of their crunchy texture. If you blend on high and break up the seeds, you’ll have to strain the mixture with a fine mesh sieve. Serve over plenty of ice and enjoy.