This fruit punch will be a fine way to start off a cookout or picnic, and will also be nice at poolside, or in the evening under the stars. In short, a delightful summer treat! To make enough for about 10 people you'll need:
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- A 10-pound (5 k) watermelon (you won't need it all)
- 2 cantaloupes, seeded
- A kitchen scale
- A finely woven muslin bag
- 2/5 cup (80 g) sugar, flavored with a few drops of vanilla extract
- One or two sprigs fresh mint
- A bottle of Malvasia, a richly aromatic white Italian wine, well chilled
- Cubed ice
Preparation:
Do begin, a word on Malvasia: It can be either dry or sweet, and some sweet Malvasia is passito,, made from dried grapes. I would use either a dry Malvasia or a sweet Malvasia that is not passito, because Malvasia passito is both alcoholic and more strongly flavored than I would want here.
Returning to the recipe:
Use a melon scoop to transform one of the melons into melon balls.
Weigh out 3 pounds (1.4 k) of the watermelon pulp (no rind) and transform it into balls too, discarding seeds as much as possible.
Put the balls in a punch bowl and put them in the refrigerator.
Peel and seed the second melon, cube it, and blend it with the flavored sugar and another 3 pounds (1.4 k) of watermelon. Pour the mush you obtain into the muslin bag and squeeze it to extract as much juice as possible. Pour the juice over the fruit balls, flavor with the mint, cover, and chill for another hour.
Come serving time, remove the punch bowl from the fridge, stir in the Malvasia, add some ice cubes to keep everything cold, and serve at once.
Returning to the recipe:
Use a melon scoop to transform one of the melons into melon balls.
Weigh out 3 pounds (1.4 k) of the watermelon pulp (no rind) and transform it into balls too, discarding seeds as much as possible.
Put the balls in a punch bowl and put them in the refrigerator.
Peel and seed the second melon, cube it, and blend it with the flavored sugar and another 3 pounds (1.4 k) of watermelon. Pour the mush you obtain into the muslin bag and squeeze it to extract as much juice as possible. Pour the juice over the fruit balls, flavor with the mint, cover, and chill for another hour.
Come serving time, remove the punch bowl from the fridge, stir in the Malvasia, add some ice cubes to keep everything cold, and serve at once.
