Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Lemon-less Brazilian Lemonade


A few years ago hubs and I took a vacation to Barbados. During one particularly hot day of sightseeing, we came across a street vendor selling shaved ice type drinks. I ordered a lemon ice and was shocked when he pulled out a can of sweetened condensed milk and poured it all over the top of the ice along with the lemon syrup. This was not at all what I expected when I ordered the shaved ice. I was pretty sure that there was no way this shaved ice was going to be refreshing and probably not taste very good either. Happily, I was wrong and the shaved ice was both tasty and refreshing. I'd thought about trying to recreate it when we got home from Barbados, but since shaved ice isn't something that can really be done at home, I never did. Recently I found this recipe  for Brazilian lemonade. It was made up of the same basic components as the shaved iced so I knew it would be similar to what we'd had in Barbados and I couldn't wait to try it. I think it's even better than the shaved ice. Tart and creamy, kind of like a liquid key lime pie. The perfect party drink for a Labor Day cookout. 
As you can see from the recipe and may have gathered from the title of this post, there are no lemons in this lemonade. You may find that as shocking as the addition of the condensed milk. I guess in Portuguese lemons and limes have the same name? I'm not sure about the origins of the name but who cares what it's called when it tastes this good!

 
Brazilian Lemonade
Source: Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 limes
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
3 cups water
ice
DIRECTIONS:
Be sure to buy limes that are very ripe and have thin skins. Limes with thick skins will make the drink very bitter. Wash limes thoroughly. Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges. Place limes in a blender with the sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water, and ice. I used a couple of glasses full of ice.
Blend in an electric blender, pulsing several times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove rinds. Serve over ice.
Call it lemonade or limeade...I call it delicious!

7 comments:

lynndianne said...

Boy, that lemonade sounds wonderful. I'll pick up a couple of limes tomorrow. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Lynn

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Recreating food memories is the best way to keep our holidays alive.

grace said...

yet another outstanding use for the phenomenon known as sweetened condensed milk. :)

Tawcan said...

Looks like an awesome summery drink. We need hotter weather here in Vancouver!

Becs @ Lay the table said...

I love condensed milk! And I'm pretty sure there's a couple of limes in my fridge for this...

Sun World said...

omg, where was this when i had 4th of july bbq?! there's always next year! :D

Patricia Bertola said...

I'm from Brazil and yes limes and lemons go by the same name here. Limes are more common here so it's what we use on a daily basis.
This drink sounds real good though I can't say I ever seen something exactly like this here.