Albaicin Lemonade

This Summer I was handed a glass of Albaicin lemonade. A refreshing spritzer style drink, like a fruit punch with apple in it. I thought it was a lovely drink for summer but didn´t think to ask anything more about it.

I later discovered that I was drinking was called ´Limonada Granadina´ Of course as it was related to Granada (and I hadn´t seen it before) I had to find out more. Lemonade…. it didn´t seem like lemonade to me.

After some investigation and another glass of this fruity summer drink, I discovered that this recipe is from the Albaicin quarter of Granada. Made of white wine, lemons and apple.  It turns out that this drink has been prepared for many summers in Granada, actually since 1967 . Here´s some information (in Spanish) about this Refrigerios en Sabados veraniegos

Summer Drinks

This was made every Saturday evening throughout the long summer. A large amount was prepared in a bar of the Albaicin near to Calle Agua and taken in a huge pan by a group of neighbours, through the cobbled streets along to the Mirador de San Nicolas opposite the Alhambra palace.

It reminded of a time a few years ago when I went to the Mirador de Morayma restaurant in the Albaicin area. They kindly gave me a book of traditional recipes called ¨Ritual de la Cocina Albaycinera” by Mariano Cruz Romero. This book was originally published in the eighties. It details recipes and traditions of the Albaicin´s gastronomy, of course information about the Granada lemonade appeared too.

This tradition at St Nicolas Square has faded away as far as I know, but this drink is still remembered. A lovely Family run hotel in Lanjaron (near to the Alpujarra) is where I came across this for the first time this summer. Hotel Alcadima – Lanjaron

Make your own Albaicin Lemonade

You will need:

• Large jug or bowl
• 1 litre of chilled white wine
• Ice cubes
• 1 lemon
• 1 apple
• 200 gr of Sugar
• Mint leaves (optional)

For my Spanish readers, here´s the recipe written by the team at Hotel Alcadima:

Do you want to read more about the Albaicin quarter?

See my earlier post: A walk around the Albaicin