Strained melon juice
Ripe melon, blended and pushed through a sieve
Scales by the glass. Blend a larger batch of melon at once and keep the strained juice chilled in the fridge for up to a day.
Melon is mostly water to begin with, so blending it barely takes any effort, and what comes through a sieve afterwards is close to a proper juice rather than a purée. Skin and seeds come off and out before anything touches the blender, since both are on the avoid list whole, and a squeeze of lemon juice sharpens the flavour if the melon was picked a little early. Chill the melon in the fridge beforehand rather than adding ice, and you get a properly cold drink in the time it takes to blend and sieve it.
Ingredients
- 350 gripe melon, skin and seeds removed, cut into chunks, chilled
- 1 tsplemon juice — optional
Method
Put the melon chunks into a blender, with the lemon juice if you are using it, and blend until completely smooth.
Push the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing with the back of a spoon to get all the juice out, and discard the pulp left behind.
Pour into a chilled glass and drink it cold, or keep it covered in the fridge for up to a day.
Watch-points
- Cut all the skin and every seed away from the melon before it goes into the blender. Both are on the avoid list whole.
- Push the blended melon through a fine sieve, even though it already looks smooth, so nothing fibrous makes it into the glass.
Stoma note: A juice like this is mostly water and natural sugar, and can loosen output if you drink much of it in one go. Sip it slowly if you are managing a stoma.
Make it more nourishing
- Serve 50 g of vanilla ice cream alongside rather than blending it in, which keeps the juice clear and adds about 100 kcal.
- Stir a tablespoon of honey into the strained juice, for around 60 kcal and a rounder flavour if the melon was picked early.
- Follow it with a 200 ml glass of whole milk, which carries about 130 kcal and 7 g of protein and leaves the juice itself alone.
Swaps
- Instead of melon, use tinned peaches blended with a splash of their juice
- a similar, naturally sweet fruit juice when melon is not in season