Jun 26, 2013 102 Comments

Watermelon Juice

Name: Watermelon Juice
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 1 glass
Ingredients: 2 cups watermelon ((chopped)); ¼ lime ((squeeze, save Juice)); 1 Tbsp simple syrup ((See Notes)); 1 slice lime ((for garnish, optional)); Mint leaves ((for garnish optional))

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I was not a big fan of watermelon growing up. When my brother-in-law introduced watermelon juice to me years ago, I was reluctant to try but ended up being surprised by how delicious it was.

Growing up, watermelon was the most common fruit during the summer time in Japan. We usually spent the summer in my grandparents’ home in Osaka. They have a big backyard and I remember having watermelon seeds spitting contents with my brother to see who can spit farther.

I also remember eating watermelon with my late grandpa on the porch after helping him tend the garden. When my family went camping, we would put the watermelon in the river to cool and played a traditional Japanese game called suikawari (スイカ割り).

Suikawari is a game where everyone takes turn to smash watermelon with a stick while blindfolded. The rule is similar to piñata except you play with a watermelon. Each person is blindfolded, spun around three times, and handed a wooden stick to strike with. The first to crack the watermelon open wins, and everyone enjoys the chunks of watermelon afterwards.

Hope you try playing Suikawari and making watermelon juice this summer!

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Watermelon Juice

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

Course: Drinks

Servings: 1 glass

Ingredients

2 cups watermelon (chopped)
¼ lime (squeeze, save Juice)
1 Tbsp simple syrup (See Notes)
1 slice lime (for garnish, optional)
Mint leaves (for garnish optional)

Instructions

Gather all the ingredients.
Cut the watermelon into chunks removing the rind and seeds. Place the chunks into a bowl and let them cool in refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
In blender, combine watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup and puree.
Pour into the glass and garnish with a slice of lime and mint leaves (optional). Chill before serving if you like.

Recipe Notes

Simple syrup: You can replace simple syrup with regular sugar if you want to save the time.

If you prefer to remove pulp, strain through a fine sieve. You will also need to double the portions for each ingredient per glass.

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: japan, lime, watermelonRecipe type: 30 Minutes or Less, Beginner, Beverage, Easy, Fruit, Gluten-Free, Healthy, Make Ahead, Snack, Summer, Uncooked, Vegan, Vegetarian

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