Has it been warm in other parts of America? It has been warm in the ever mild coastal California. We rarely see temperatures in high 70s or mid 80s during this time of the year.
Hubby and I have been doing lots of TLC around the house to get ready for our baby, and manual labor in warm weather for a pregnant lady is not funny. We needed something cool, refreshing and yet not sugary. Besides the sugar restriction in preggo diet, I have never really like sugary drinks, so I came up with this delightful concoction.
Not only is it thirst quenching and refreshing, we got to use up all the frozen pomegranate in the freezer (DH has seeds aversion, he dislikes eating any berries with seeds. i.e. raspberries, blackberries, and pomegranate despite how nutritious they are).
Pomegranate Aqua Fresca
Ingredients:
- Frozen pomegranate (or mixed berries) 1 cup
- Honey 2 tbsp
- Loose jasmine tea leaves 1/2 tbsp
- Hot filtered water 4 cups
- Cold filtered water 4 cups
- Fill a glass jar / pitcher with the frozen pomegranate, jasmine tea leaves
- Add the hot water into the jar, and wait for 2 min
- Add the cold water into the jar, stir well.
- Add the honey into the jar, stir until the honey dissolves completely
- Refrigerate.
The reasons for step 2-4 is the following. I added the hot water first so the tea has enough time to brew. By adding the cold water and honey later, the drink retains the full benefit of honey without destroying its structure and enzymes (see below excerpt on Honey). The end result is a fragrant pomegranate tea with very little hint of caffeine. Very delicious and guilt-free!!
“Excessive heat can have detrimental effects on the nutritional value of honey. Heating up to 37 °C (99 °F) causes loss of nearly 200 components, some of which are antibacterial. Heating up to 40 °C (104 °F) destroys invertase, an important enzyme. At 50 °C (122 °F), the honey sugars caramelize. Generally, any large temperature fluctuation causes decay” ~ Wiki
Wishing you all a good day
Enjoy~~
xoxo, Mary
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