Who does not love a glass of lemonade on a hot summer day? This recipe is naturally sweetened by the watermelon so you do not need as much sugar to balance with the lemon juice as you will find in other lemonades. All you need is half a watermelon, 4 lemons, a pint of raspberries, fresh mint, spring water and a little cane sugar. If your watermelon is ripe enough, you may not need any sugar!

I highly recommend freshly squeezing the lemons. My kids love to do it. We zest the lemons first to use at a later date and then juice them. To remove the seeds, use a small strainer and place over the blender before you pour in the juice. The lemon seeds will make the drink bitter.

Now if you want to act like a real mixologist and impress your friends, use a muddle to release the flavorful oils in the mint. I found this gorgeous solid, hand turned muddle made by Nick Cook at Atlanta MADE. The handle is the perfect size and the flat bottom muddled my mint very quickly. This would be a great father’s day gift along with some highball glasses, and a recipe card. Atlanta MADE has Mojito recipe cards in their store. The kids can even make a easy mint simple syrup at home to compliment the cocktail theme.

If you do not have a muddle, clap the mint spring in between your hands to help release the oils. Place the mint in the lemonade before you chill to get more flavor. Remove the mint sprig before you serve the watermelon lemonade but add a new mint sprig for a garnish. Eat the leaves to get all the vitamins!

You can make this without mint as shown below if you do not love mint. Here is a great article on how to pair different fruits and spices in drinks if you want to experiment. Ginger may be really good to add as well. Let me know if you try it!

The Ultimate Cookbook

Watermelon Lemonade
Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: None Chilling time: 1 hour

Place watermelon, raspberries and water in container of food processor and blend until smooth. Strain through fine sieve into pitcher. Stir in sugar and lemon juice and continue stirring until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Yield: 4 servings

National Watermelon Promotional Board

Per serving: 133 calories, 1 gram protein, trace fat (percent calories from fat, less than 5 percent), 33 grams carbohydrates, no cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium, 1 gram fiber.