Cooldown Recipe, Watermelon Lemonade!

Finally summer is in full swing, and our minds are filled with visions of chilly fruit drinks for the start of Operation Cooldown!

Chef Chris Green is the Culinary Director of  the Viking Cooking School, and he share a delicious video recipe for a sparkling watermelon lemonade with raspberries.  This written recipe can be found at the P. Allen Smith site, which is a great resource for home and gardening info as well as recipes.   Feel free to tweak the sugar in the recipe to your desired level of sweetness, and add a touch of rum or vodka if it’s happy hour!

And a few watermelon tidbits FYI:

• All water and sugar?  Yes, 92% water and 8% sugar,  however feast away without guilt, because watermelon is an excellent source of vitamins A and C, as well as the antioxidant lycopene.
• A yellow spot on the watermelon is perfectly normal,  it is simply the spot where the fruit was laying on the ground ripening in the sun.
• The entire fruit is edible, including the seeds and the rind.
• Is it a fruit or vegetable?  Botanically it’s considered a fruit, however the USDA considers it a vegetable, you can read more regarding the controversy  here.
• And lastly we’ll leave you with this very sweet photo of a vintage watermelon party from the Montana Historical Society archives.

[pro-player width=’550′ height=’353′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvXZLdunAu8[/pro-player]