Sara and I made a few trips to Utah last fall and at my first Cafe Rio trek, I made the most wondrous discovery: they were serving fresh mint limeade. If there’s one thing more delicious than a sweet pork salad and a Diet Coke, it’s a sweet pork salad and a fresh mint limeade. Now…if you’re thinking, “Hey, Kate, mint limeade sounds good (or doesn’t), but this is the week before Easter! Post something Easter-y!”, I would tell you that a) Here’s a whole bunch of Easter-y recipes and b) This recipe is fresh and springy and serves a crowd–perfect for all sorts of Easter gatherings. The ingredients here are super simple–fresh mint (just mint, not spearmint or peppermint), a whole bunch of limes, sugar, and water. Because the ingredients are so simple, I really recommend using the best ingredients possible–name brand sugar, not the sad, shrively limes at the bottom of the produce pile, and, if you have yucky tap water like I do, some kind of filtered or bottled water (I use the water from our water cooler).
To make the syrup, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 cups of water, and a few sprigs of mint in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and strain the mint leaves. Allow to cool at room temperature or place in the refrigerator. The syrup can be made a few days ahead of time. When ready to serve, place the chopped mint leaves
into the bottom of a large serving pitcher.
Then juice enough limes to get 1 1/2 cups of lime juice. Now, I made this earth-shattering discovery as I was making the limeade this go-around. Unless you have a fancy electric citrus juicer like this one or you’re planning on hiring a professional citrus squeezer, the next easiest way to get your limes juiced is to place a cheap citrus juicer on a work surface that’s about at hip height. I’m short and in the past, I’ve always done this on my kitchen counters, which hits me at about the bottom of my ribs. When I did this on a lower surface, I was able to put my body weight into it a little more and it made the whole process infinitely easier. Add the syrup, freshly squeezed lime juice,
and 8 cups of cold water. Taste and add additional water to taste (if necessary). If serving over ice, you might want to make it a tiny bit sweeter than you would normally like to account for the melting ice. Now…one of my favorite things to do with this drink is to mix 1/2 cup sugar with the zest of a lime in a shallow plate.
Using a damp paper towel, wipe around the rim of each serving glass and then invert each glass onto the plate to sugar the rims of the glasses. It’s so easy and pretty and delicious! Then just carefully spoon ice into the glasses and pour the limeade into the prepared glasses.
