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
Thanks very much Molly, your website is great. Just booked for june for 3 days bringing my sister – I live in Alicante but am in love with Andalucia and go to any of the cities as often as I can! Will try your recommendations on bars, reataurants etc……
Are there any ‘local fiestas’ 16-19 June? Great help, keep going chica!
Carole x
Hello Carole,
In Granada the big fiestas are Cruces de Mayo (May Crosses) first weekend in May and Corpus Christi 25th June. The Feria is on for the Corpus week and it´s the biggest celebration of the year in Granada´s calendar.
In Malaga they have their feria at the end of the summer.
Saying this May and June is a wonderful time to visit Andalusia, there are also Flamenco festivals on during these months and spring has a special feel to the place
hope this helps
[…] There’s much more informationon https://www.piccavey.com/granada-lemonade-a-traditional-albaicin-drink/ […]
[…] En mi viaje a Granada paramos a descansar y comer allí, y sus dueños nos enseñaron todos los rincones del hotel. También nos ofrecieron un show cooking de varios platos de cocina local granadina que cuando lo recuerdo mis glándulas salivares se activan automáticamente. Gonzalo Rodríguez se puso detrás de los fogones y con maestría y mucho saber hacer nos cocinó auténticas exquisiteces. Mientras su hija Amanda nos entretenía con explicaciones y respuestas a todas nuestras dudas y comentarios. Recuerdo con mucha añoranza unas sardinas amoragadas estupendas, entre otros muchos platos. Para saciar la sed Gonzalo se encargó de preparar en un periquete una limoná granaina riquísima. Mi amiga Molly explica su preparación y comparte la receta. […]
[…] se encargó de preparar en un periquete una limoná granaina riquísima. Mi amiga Molly explica su preparación y comparte la receta. La piscina, uno de los mejores espacios del hotel Detalle de la […]
That sounds like a lovely summer drink! I’ll have to try it out, thanks for the recipe.
Just what I´ve been looking for! It sounds fab and with a long history too. Great post – off to get the ingredients together, thanks!
Lovely ! I’m going to try that recipe later – I may (finally) have found a use for my home-made pea-pod wine! Thanks for sharing x