A Bit of Colour

Special mix with paper umbrellas covered

Fruit on toothpicks bathing in the drink

Ice cubes float in the blend

Of juices red and pink

---

Padre

Blackberry Iced Tea

It is blackberry season, and this abundant tasty fruit is a great compliment to many drinks such as lemonade and tea.  This recipe uses pre-brewed tea (see Sun Tea)*and freshly crushed berries to make a cooling drink.

Ingredients:

• Blackberries 1 cup
• Tea 1 litre
• Sugar 3/4 cup or Stevia 4 Tbs (or to taste)

Method:

Crush the berries and 1/4 of the sweetener in a food processor, or with a fork in a medium bowl. Place a wire mesh strainer over a jug or pitcher and strain out the seeds, but allowing as much juice through as possible. Pour half of the tea over the crushed berry material in the strainer, and allow liquid to strain through. Add the remaining sweetener to the unused tea and stir well.  Add the sweetened tea to the pitcher.  Chill and serve over ice.

* If you don’t have time to make sun tea, a quick (but I find slightly more bitter) approach is to place 300 ml of water into a sauce pan and bring to boil. Remove from the heat, and add 2 to 3 tea bags. Allow to steep for about 4 minutes, then remove the tea bags, and add to 700 ml or so of cold water.

For a slightly different take on this recipe only fill the glasses 3/4 full with the blackberry tea, and top up with sparkling lemonade (Sprite, 7 Up, etc ** sugar free works fine).

Paste

 

 

Blackberry Blitz

Some very dear friends brought us a large container of blackberries today, and it was a perfect gift as I had been wanting to make this recipe for some time.  It blends the fruit, simple syrup, and fizzy water/drink to make a nice summer treat.  It is a little labour intensive but well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Blackberries 2 cups
• Simple syrup 100 ml or Stevia 1 Tbs
• Fruit-flavoured Sparkling Water or Fizzy Lemonade 300 to 400 ml
• Ice 1 to 2 cups

Method:

Place ice in a blender and crush thoroughly.  Divide out into glasses.  Place the berries, and 100 to 150 ml of fizzy drink into blender and blitz well. Add additional soda to the blender as needed to make a thick fruit liquid.  Place a wire strainer over a pitcher or jug and strain out the seeds from the berries.  When this process is finished stir in the syrup to the jug (if using Stevia stir in, but use more soda in next step) and pour over the ice.  Top up the glasses with additional fizzy drink.

Padre

Chilled Cocoa Horchata

Here is a tasty chocolate treat.  It blends chilled cocoa drink and horchata to make a sweet summer drink.  The two components can be made and stored (briefly) and blended at the time of serving.  If made in advance, be sure to give a good stir to keep it from separating.

Horchata Component:

This bit is a minor variation on the Horchata recipe I have previously posted.

Ingredients:

• Uncooked While Rice 1 cup
• Almonds handful
• Water 750 ml
• Vanilla Essence 1 1/2 tsp
• Ground Cinnamon 1/2 tsp 
• Stevia 2 rounded Tbs (or to taste) or 1/3 cup sugar

Method:

Pour the rice, almonds, and water into a blender and blitz until rice just begins to break up. Let set at room temperature for about 3 hours. Strain out the nut pieces and rice solids, and mix the liquid with the cinnamon, sweetener, vanilla.  Place in a closed container and chill.

Cocoa Component:

Ingredients:

• Milk 500 ml
• Chocolate Bar 70%+ 100 g
• Pure Cocoa Powder 1 tsp
• Stevia 1 tsp or Sugar 1 heaped Tbs

Method:

In a small sauce pan put a large splash of milk, and then bring to medium heat. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and add to the pan.  As it begins to melt, add the milk slowly stirring constantly. When all of the milk is added, sprinkle in the cocoa and sweetener.  Continue to stir well, then allow to cool.

Cocoa Horchata

Ingredients:

• Horchata Mixture (as above)
• Cocoa Mixture (as above)
• Ground Cinnamon to garnish
• Ice

Method:

This part is easy.  Pour the horchata and cocoa together in to a large pitcher and stir well.  Fill glasses about 1/4 full with ice, and then top off with the mixture.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

Padre

 

Very Berry Cooler

Here is another cooling summer drink which is great after an afternoon of gardening.  It uses grape juice, cordial, and coulis for a great fruity blend, and sugar-free lemonade for a hint of fizz. Chilled nicely it really hits the spot.

Ingredients:

• White Grape Juice 200 ml
• Strawberry Cordial 75 ml
• Raspberry Coulis 2 Tbs
• Diet Lemonade (Sprite) 50 – 100 ml (to top off)

Method:

Stir cordial and coulis together in a glass, and add the chilled grape juice. Give a stir, and then add the chilled lemonade to top off.  Again a simple drink, and very tasty. Garnish with a fresh berry on the side of the glass.

Padre