Get some great refreshment with this Agua de Pina Recipe! Fresh pineapple in liquid form – amazing!
Aguas Frescas = Pure Refreshment.
What do you think of when you hear flavored water? Those bottled water concoctions that have I’m not quite sure what is in them?
Although I’ll drink those occasionally when they are around, they are kind of a “thanks, but no thanks” for me.
No, what I think of is Mexican-style! Aguas frescas baby!
They got their stuff together. If you have ever been to any authentic Mexican cuisine, you will know that they have many “flavored” waters. Which some people might just call juice, but, no, I think they are appropriately named “agua de” for all the right reasons.
I lived in California for a stint and one of the highlights of my week was the visit to a friendly neighbor who fed me a great meal, always served with either Agua de Pina (Pineapple Water) or Agua de Sandia (Watermelon Water). Let me tell you, put either of those on ice, and they are THE BEST source of refreshment.
Making Agua Fresca is Simple.
How do you make them, you ask? Easy!
Fruit.
Water.
Blender.
Sugar.
Strain.
Done.
Here’s what I do to make the process faster.
1) Don’t get too picky about your cutting. Just cut off the skin, cut out the core, and cut your chunks. If you have a powerful blender (I love using my Blendtec for this), you can leave these a little bigger, no prob.
2) You will get A LOT of pulp when you blend a pineapple. I usually blend the initial batch with about 2 cups water.
3) Then I pour 2 more cups in before straining. See the difference in these two pictures above? The additional water added after the blend helps the pulp separate better and more quickly from the juice. Then you can just skim the majority of the froth off of the top and then pour the rest through a mesh sieve. Easy!
What are you waiting for? Go and make some of this!
*Note: Some people use something called “essence of pineapple” which is basically some sort of imitation pineapple extract when making Agua de Pina. If you are making this for commercial use, maybe that’s the way to go, but I definitely prefer sticking to the basics!
Easy Agua de Pina Recipe (Mexican Pineapple Water)
Ingredients
- 1 fresh ripe pineapple skinned, cored, and cut into chunks
- 8-9 cups of water divided
- 1-2 cups of granulated sugar depending on taste
Instructions
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Put your pineapple chunks in a blender.
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Add about 2 cups water.
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Blend until pulverized.
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Add about an additional 2 cups of water so that the foam will separate from the juice.
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Use a spoon to get the majority of the foamy pulp out.
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Pour the drink through a fine mesh sieve to strain the rest of the pulp. You may want to do this a couple times.
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Stir in the rest of the water and sugar until desired flavor and sweetness.
Recipe Notes
As mentioned in the comments, you can use a simple syrup to replace the sugar. A simple syrup is made by either 1:1 ratio of 1:2 ratio of water to granulated sugar (depending how thick you want the syrup to be). Heat until just starting to boil and sugar is dissolved.
I personally like just using the granulated sugar because I feel like it dissolves just fine in the juice but if you are wanting to make sure that it is perfectly smooth, a simple syrup is a great solution. I would recommend cooling the syrup before using it though, or adding a lot of ice because I like this drink coldy cold cold! 😀
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Wow, even just looking at that is refreshing. Yum! 🙂
Thank you Nicole! I absolutely love this drink.
It’s better is you make a simple syrup with sugar and add that.
Lidia – yes a simple syrup works great, too! I’ve just found that the granulated sugar dissolves just fine for my taste and I really don’t notice a difference, so I don’t bother with that extra step unless I already have some simple syrup on hand.
Why does America add sugar to everything? Aqua de Pina in Mexico has no added sugar and it is perfectly wonderful that way!
Hey Heidi! I’ve had fresh fruit in Mexico and Costa Rica – some of the most amazing pineapple (among other fruit) of my life! Usually the stuff we get here in the states unfortunately is picked greener because of transport and isn’t going to be up to that standard of natural sweetness. My Latin American friends here in the states also add sugar for this reason, both in home and commercial use.
I am going to try this to help my digestion issues and it looks refreshing. I agree with Heidi – why add sugar!!!! We are suppose to reduce the sugar in our diets. If the fresh pineapple is a little under ripe when purchased, wait until it ripens before cutting.
If not naturally sweet enough pineapple to start just add some blue agave as needed. Avoid the bad sugar.
That’s a great idea! I’ve been wanting to try other sweeteners. I think that monkfruit could also work well.
I don’t have a mesh strainer .is there something else I could use to remove the pulp
You could just use a big spoon to get most of it out since it floats to the top!