When the air-conditioning broke down at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan three years ago, Rita Dever, the sous-chef, whipped up morale with "lemonades" made from all the fruit she could find: bing cherries, fragrant white peaches, tart blackberries.
"We took the lemonades around the hotel, to the engineers, to housekeeping," she said. Tasty and beautiful, the drinks wended their way onto the hotel menu.When one is lazing about, tucked into a hammock or curled up on a glider, the drink in hand should be large and ripe with the colors and scents of summer, and it should lend itself to slow sipping. Madhur Jaffrey, the cookbook author, remembers sherbets of tamarind that cooled the sultry Indian heat and drinks flavored with almond juice, cardamom and rose petals. "When maharajahs served them, they would add saffron," she said.
On the hottest days, Indians forgo iced tea ("too American") for fresh limeade and perhaps mango lassi, which combines fresh mango with yogurt and cardamom. "Mangoes are supposed to be good for the eyes," Jaffrey said.
India also inspired Alice Waters' seasonal celebration: watermelon limeade. "I'm not a watermelon lover, so this was the perfect thing for me," said Waters, the owner and executive chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif.
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Recipes
CHERRY LEMONADE
1/2 cup bing cherries, pitted
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ice water
Sprig of mint.
Place all ingredients but mint in a blender, and puree 1 minute. Add sugar to taste. Pour into ice-filled glass. Garnish with mint.
Yield: 1 serving.
- Adapted from Rita Dever
BLACKBERRY LEMONADE
1/2 cup blackberries
1/3 cup lemon juice
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cup ice water.
Place all ingredients in a blender, and puree 1 minute. Add sugar to taste. Pour into ice-filled glass.
Yield: 1 serving.
- Adapted from Rita Dever
MANGO LASSI
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup water
3/4 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup fresh or canned mango pulp (see note)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds (plus a little extra for garnish)
3 ice cubes.
Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Add sugar to taste. Garnish with a pinch of ground cardamom seeds. A few extra ice cubes may be added when serving.
Yield: 1 serving.
Note: Ratnagiri Alphonso mango pulp, available in Indian shops in New York City, is better than most fresh mangos sold in New York, Jaffrey said.
- Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey
WATERMELON LIMEADE
1 cup diced seedless watermelon
2 teaspoons sugar
4 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup ice
Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Add sugar to taste.
Yield: 1 serving.
- Adapted from Alice Waters