Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade Pressé

Pour sparkling raspberry lemonade pressé over ice on a hot, summer afternoon and enjoy the delightfully fruity tastes of fresh raspberry and lemon juice. Mixed with chilled, lightly sparkling water, it makes a wonderfully refreshing drink.

Last week, Nicole and I spent a fun afternoon in New York City. We visited our favorite gluten free bakery, which we’ll be posting a review for shortly, and then we made our way to a café that we have wanted to check out for a while: Café Lalo. It’s famous for being the cafe in the movie You’ve Got Mail where Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) and Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) have their disastrous first date.

Café Lalo has a lovely European feel to it. In fact, as soon as we settled in, Nicole pointed out the music that was playing. It was French-Italian singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy singing Quelqu’un m’a dit‬. Needless to say, we felt as if we had been transported to Paris.

It’s a good thing that we had just come from sampling pastries at the gluten free bakery or it would have been tough to resist the gluten free pies that were listed on the menu. Though we didn’t try them, know that if you decide to visit, there will be gluten free choices for you.

Instead, as it was a warm day and we had just walked many city blocks, we decided a cold, thirst-quenching drink was in order. Perusing the menu, we narrowed down our choice to Belvoir Farms gluten-free organic Eldeflower Pressé imported from the English countryside. The waitress described it as a fragrant carbonated lemonade with a little sugar. Our pressé was served in a lovely glass bottle with a straw. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to make a sugar-free version at home, substituting the elderflower for raspberries.

When used to describe a drink, pressé means freshly-squeezed in French. By using sparkling water, freshly-squeezed juice, and a touch of stevia, my recipe is a fun spin on raspberry lemonade that you can make at home. Then I recommend finding a quiet place to relax and sip slowly with your friends and family.

I begin with raspberry syrup: a blend of raspberry puree, water, and stevia. I always recommend buying organic raspberries because they are free of chemicals and pesticides. Raspberry syrup offers sweetness to our drink while being low in calories and high in fiber and vitamin C. Since my family tries to avoid sugar, I sweeten this syrup with Stevia. If you have tried Stevia and found it to have a bitter back taste, I recommend trying this brand that has no back taste.

Bring the water and stevia to a simmer. Stir so that the stevia dissolves completely. Then let it cool to room temperature. Place the raspberries in your blender or food processor. I put them right in my Vitamix and process them until smooth. Strain the raspberries through a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl. Then mix with the sweetened water and stir well.

Next squeeze the juice from the lemons. My old citrus juicer recently broke, so I just bought this new electric juicer. It sure beats squeezing a whole bunch of lemons by hand.

Combine fresh lemon juice and raspberry syrup. Slowly add 16 ounces of sparkling bottled water. I used sparkling water sold in a glass bottle in order to avoid health-harming chemicals from cans or plastic bottles.

Voilá! Sugar free sparkling raspberry lemonade pressé! The perfect balance of zingy and sweet. It’s the taste of summer captured in a glass.

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Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade Pressé

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Serves: 24 oz.

Ingredients

• 4 packets of Stevia
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 4 ounces Driscoll's organic raspberries
• 16 ounce bottle sparkling water

Instructions

1. Bring the water and stevia to a simmer. Stir so that stevia dissolves completely. Then let it cool to room temperature. Place the raspberries in your Vitamix and process until smooth.
2. Strain the raspberries through a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl. Then mix with the sweetened water and stir well.
3. Next squeeze the juice from the lemons. Combine fresh lemon juice and raspberry syrup. Slowly add sparkling bottled water.

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