watermelon peach puree

I grilled* a few peaches on the grill last week, but we didn’t eat all of them for dessert. I also had about half a watermelon that we hadn’t finished – and there was no room in the fridge. So I decided to puree it all up together, strain out the pulp, leaving the juice, and see what happened. Great things ensued, including the following:

Watermelon peach rosé

2 cups peach watermelon juice
1 bottle rosé or sparkling wine of your choice

Directions: In individual glasses with ice, add about a half cup of the peach watermelon juice to the a cup of wine. Add a sprig of basil and a squeeze of lemon if you have it.

Watermelon peach bourbon fizz

This is for a larger batch, but feel free to scale it back for individual drinks if you don’t have a crowd.

5 shots bourbon (my shot glass is 1.5 ounces, but I imagine that varies)
2 cups watermelon peach juice
Juice of one lime, plus slices for garnish is desired
1 tbsp sugar
Handful fresh mint
Club soda or seltzer (to add at the end)

Directions: Muddle the mint and sugar in the bottom of a pitcher. Add the watermelon peach juice, bourbon, and juice from one lime. Mix to combine. Pour mixture about three-quarters of the way in a large glass with ice. Top off with club soda or seltzer and add slice of lime and additional mint as garnish.

Save it for later

After I had experimented with a few different cocktails and made some virgin ones for the kids, I still had quite a bit watermelon peach puree left, so I put it in some ice cube trays in the freezer. Once they were frozen, I dumped them into a large plastic bag, labeled it because I’m notorious for freezing things for later and forgetting what they were, and I’ll use them to come up with other concoctions later in the year. If I have enough willpower to save some for December, they would make for a delicious reminder of summer once it’s cold and dark!

*The roasted flavor of the peaches was delicious, but I think it would be just as yummy with fresh peaches – or even just watermelon all by itself. Most of the fun is in the experimenting, so try what you have on hand and see what works!