Kalamansi Tanglad Cooler a la Marketman

Kalamansi juice. Kalamansi soda. Lime Squash. Many of use grew up with these healthier and truly soft drinks. And yet they seem to have mostly disappeared except in classic old dining places, sports clubs and the like. So it’s kind of amazing how a short trip to a neighboring country, Vietnam, can yield so many food revelations in just 72 hours or less, a lime soda amongst them. My continuing obsession with Asian limes meant I was in delightful shock to find limes all over Hanoi and at the amazing price of just PHP30-40 a kilo (they go as low as PHP120 a kilo to a high of PHP160 a kilo at local weekend markets for local dayap)! The Teen ordered a simple lime and lemongrass juice that was so refreshing… and at the same time so familiar… and yet with a nice flavor twist. I vowed to experiment with kalamansi and other lime juices when I got back to Manila…

I had to go to Quiapo a few hours ago, and while picking up some kitchen stuff from Sin Kiam Heng, I spotted a street vendor with lots of lemongrass or tanglad. Two large bunches were purchased for just PHP50, a STEAL in the heart of city, I thought. A few meters down, I spied a vendor with loads of kalamansi, and for PHP50, I ended up with five plastic baskets worth, nearly 2 kilos or so, another STEAL, in my opinion. Back at home, we washed half of the lemongrass, say 20 stalks and removed their outer leaves and rinsed them well. I cut off all but say 6-7 inches of the pale stalk and chopped them up coarsely. Marketman tip — we also washed the kalamansi well (as we do with eggs we buy and store in the fridge) to remove any soil, dirt or worse, that you can unwittingly squeeze into your juice. :(

Into a pot I added 8 cups of water, 4 cups of granulated white sugar, and the roughly 20 chopped up stems of lemongrass. Bring this to a boil, lower to a simmer and let this go another 15 minutes or so. Turn off the heat, add some good honey for flavor and taste if you have it, and let the lemongrass steep for another 30 minutes or so, and strain and let the flavored syrup cool. You can keep this in the fridge, covered for say 8-10 days. To make the cooler, I took a large glass, probably 24oz size, added the juice of 4 kalamansi, about 1/3 cup of the flavored simple syrup and lots of ice. Add a clean lemongrass stalk to stir the drink and add a bit of fluff. Add a straw if you like. This was just fantastic! So incredibly light and refreshing and a REAL THIRST QUENCHER. You can certainly adjust the sugar levels to your own taste… It’s great with dayap juice as well (nearly identical to the drink we tasted in Vietnam). And for variations, try this with sparkling water or soda or even perhaps a diet 7up! :)