Over the last 2.5 years of keeping this food blog, I have posted several ways to enjoy locally available, tropical fruits in juice or shake form. It amazes me that so many folks turn to instant juice drinks with hardly any fruit juice in them at all, or worse, powdered drinks with artificial flavors and colors… Now that it is the height of summer, why not take a little more effort to enjoy one of these delicious options to cool down…
My favorite juice from the following selection must be the santol juice that I finally figured out how to make. It is so simple to do, results in such a distinct, clean and clear flavor that is utterly refreshing, particularly when served ice cold. If you haven’t made it yet or you haven’t done it in years, it is the perfect way to use up those santol fruit in your backyard, your neighbor’s tree or buy some at the nearest market! Having said that is my favorite juice, I now have incredible problems listing out the others that are also so good. I did a post on ripe mango shakes that if done right, are nearly perfect drinking. If you are lucky and can get a hold of some Sagada oranges, they made a FANTASTIC pure orange juice that I can still taste months after making it. We can’t forget the classic kalamansi juice, but perhaps a bit more unusual and sophisticated are the flavors of Dayap & Dalandan juices. I also featured fresh pineapple shakes (despite an allergy to pineapple) and early on, a feature on watermelon shakes, seeds and all! Fresh Buko juice is often overlooked in our modern diets, and so is Buko Pandan Juice. Oh, and how can I not mention Cantaloupe or melon juice with those strands of melon at the bottom of the glass? They aren’t native fruits but they are increasingly available in groceries, so I also throw in my plum and grape shakes that are also incredibly fruity and refreshing… I hope you have the time to enjoy some of these juices in the weeks ahead!
24 Responses
i love fresh fruit juices and i’ve tried to make some of MM’s juices . . . try the santol juice its really good. . . is it santol season?? hehe well fresh juices are nice to cool off this summer. . .
I haven’t tried santol juice…and this is the first time I’ve heard of it. I’m more attracted to the juice with the bits and pieces in it. Did you serve this juice clear? I also love santol by the way.
I’ve been freezing and blending grapes all through the summer. It’s a quick way to counter this horrible heat.
since we were kids, my siblings and i have been exposed to santol being made into juice by my father loves it, same with fresh kasoy….my father after peeling the fruit, prefers having the brown outer flesh made “tadtad” into very small pieces, and the seeds mashed into the ice…..refreshing indeed…
thanks to marketman i’m a santol juice convert with a mission to make my kith and kin santol juice drinkers.
I will try the santol juice. My family and I love fruit shakes. We have mango shake most days of the week…a lot better than in the restaurants. I buy over ripe so that I add only a little sugar or none at all. I fill up individual ice bags with some slices enough for one pitcher and blitz in the blender as needed. My favorite is guyabano shake and strawberry too.
When I was in Vietnam, I tried the Sapodilla shake because I was curious. It was a pleasant shock to discover that it is made of the chiko fruit. I know it sounds strange, but it was quite good and refreshing. Try it!
Just last week, I found a stall in SM Megamall Building A (theater side, along the corridor beside the escalators, 2nd floor, I think )that sells ice-cold sampaloc juice. Sarap and so refreshing! It also sells sampaloc juice in big cans. You should try it.
Though technically not a fruit, I find iced lemon grass refreshing too.
Great take on the santol juice!
In Bulacan, Bulacan we have several Santol trees and during santol season we made santol jam, and santol juice, my mum even used it na pang asim sa Sinigang, pag walang available na sampaloc, But I like to eat my santol with bagoong. Yummy!!!!
My family has been drinking kalamansi juice everyday for ages. Every week mama buys almost two kilos of this local citrus fruit and each time the vendors are wondering if we are restaurant operators. Yes, thank you MM for rediscovering the delights of santol juice…also in our backyard we have a Kamias tree and we have also made some really great Kamias shakes and /or sinigang dishes for a change. However, caution on using too much Kamias fruit on your shake. The high vitamin C content can cause diarrhea.
i’ve heard that sagada oranges really taste good, havent tried it myself, is it available in Manila?
to enhance the santol flavor –and to speed up the extraction of the flavor, mash the santol pulp and seeds with the sugar before adding the water and ice cubes. you get the flavor instantly.
does anyone have a recipe for sampaloc juice?
Every summer, I contemplate getting a blender to make fruit shakes but my ideal fruit shake has finely crushed ice, but I have so many questions which are yet unanswered.
How does one make fruit shakes with the consistency of 7-11’s slurpees? Would you have to start off with crushed ice? Are there blenders (available for sale here in Manila) that are capable of crushing ice cubes into fine ice for a smooth shake? Are Oster blenders capable of doing this?
When I was a small girl in Bicol, we used to have santol juice all the time whenever it was in season and our santol tree is heavy with fruit. My papa adds a twist to it by adding, of all things, a pinch of salt! It makes it taste a bit like champoy. To update this, you can rim your glass with salt and serve it like a margarita. Yum. Makes me want to rush to market and make a batch right now.
Dear Sonia P,ner: Sampaloc or Tamarind juice is a very popular drink in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, particularly during Ramadan. I dont know if this will work but if its available here, i used to buy a box of tamarind preserves sans added sugar which was imported from Thailand.Remove outer shell and Soak tamarinds in warm water for maybe about 1 hour and try to extract the juice and pulp by mashing and squeezing the bits onto a fine mesh. Taste the tamarind extract to check the desired tartness and sweeten with brown sugar. Cool juice. I am hesitant about boiling the tamarinds in water bec. i have this notion that boiling depletes the sour taste..is that a fact?? Help out there .. Give it a try.
Ay, I wish you have a book .
Mmmm…. you had to remind me of that santol juice. I haven’t had that since high school 20+ years ago! When you first posted that I determined to try it with the only thing here that we can use — bottled santol. But the color (greenish?) put me off; I don’t know what chemicals they put in there…. I wonder if they grow santol in Florida….
have you tried making kamias juice?i have tried it in palmera’s restaurant here in san pablo.it is thirst quenching!!at first i was hesitant to try, but i got curious because we have lots in our backyard so i tried it. it was really good!
also, we grew guyabano in our farm so we turn it to juice also.
marijo, I have had a kamias shake which was delicious…tart and refreshing and great when ice cold. However, I suspect a lot of added sugar syrup is necessary… stef, I haven’t heard of santol grown in the U.S. but I suspect someone must be trying…
what is the english term of santol?
mariel, I don’t think there is an English term for it. It is native to India and Malaysia where it goes by the names Sentul or Kecapi and the scientific name is Sandoricum koetjape but I haven’t come across an English name for it…
Hi, just discovered your site and the juices make me nostalgic!! I live in the Barossa Valley in South Australia and one of my favourite juices is pineapple but done in an electric juicer and it comes out really frothy, almost creamy!! Try also very ripe bananas and freeze them without the skin. When hard chop them up and put through the mixer or blender and you will end with banana cream. Great topping for cakes or other fruit.
Nothing beats natural juices … whether it is made the old fashion way or with the help of kitchen gadgets. It beats drinking “julep” if you still remember what that is.