Honeydew-Mint Agua Fresca: A Gorgeous Green and Refreshing Simple Saturday Sipper

The OnoPops ice pops I have become addicted to lately and buy at the farmers market most every week come in a huge variety of exotic flavors that I am working my way through, but I find myself always going back to the Honeydew-Mint. Made with the melon and fresh mint, it is a refreshing blend of flavors and the inspiration for this week's Simple Saturday Sipper. I thought the combination would also make an excellent Honeydew-Mint Agua Fresca (fresh water), and the perfect drink to enjoy in the humidity.

Besides being refreshing, this is a healthy drink, with just a few ingredients--in fact, I managed to make it with all local ingredients. The honeydew and limes are locally grown and from the farmers market, and the mint is from my lanai container herb garden. I even used a pinch of local Hawaiian sea salt to bring out the flavors.

Honeydew-Mint Agua Fresca

by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 8 cups)

1 honeydew melon, halved, seeded, peel removed and chopped (about 7 cups)

1 small handful of fresh mint
juice of 3 limes (about 1/3 cup)

3 cups water

1 pinch sea salt
ice

Put the melon and mint into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour puree through a mesh sieve over a large pitcher, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon to get the juice out, and then discard the solids. Add the lime juice, water and a pinch of salt to the melon-mint mixture. Chill for an hour or two in the fridge and serve cold over plenty of ice. Enjoy!

I love the little flecks of mint in the drink---so pretty!

Notes/Results: Really delicious! The melon, mint and lime all blend nicely together with no one ingredient overpowering the others. You could sweeten it if you wanted to, but I found the melon to be just sweet enough that I didn't need any additional sweetener. I saved about half of the mixture and poured it into my ice pop molds for my own paletas or popsicles. You could also blend it with ice and a bit of vodka for a refreshing frozen cocktail. I will make this again.

Happy Saturday!