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Clean recipe · cooking.nytimes.com

Limonada (Brazilian Lemonade)

Creamy, frosty and tart, this popular Brazilian drink is a fantastic refreshment for a hot day. In Brazil, it’s also known as limonada Suíça, which translates to Swiss lemonade, because it typically includes sweetened condensed milk, which was marketed by the Swiss company Nestlé in Brazil in the 1940s. Sweetened condensed milk is essential to Brazilian sweets, including desserts like brigadeiros. A shelf-stable dairy product that doesn’t curdle in the presence of acid, it gets blended here with limes, sugar, ice and water to make this tangy beverage creamy. Limonada Suíça always includes condensed milk, but limonada sometimes leaves it out. And even though it’s called lemonade, it often uses limes since the word limão is often used interchangeably for lemons and limes in Portuguese. Pulsing the entire lime into this drink adds an extra layer of brightness and depth from the rind. This drink takes only minutes to blend and is best served immediately.

Original recipe: cooking.nytimes.com

Yield:
6 servings
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Ingredients

  1. 4 limes, scrubbed and washed, plus wedges or wheels for serving
  2. ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  3. 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk (or, for a dairy-free version, use 7 ounces sweetened condensed coconut milk)
  4. 4 cups cold water
  5. 4 cups ice, plus more for serving

Instructions

  1. Cut off and discard the tips of the limes, then cut the limes in quarters.
  2. Working in batches if your blender is smaller, pulse limes, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, water and ice in a blender 5 to 8 times until the ingredients are just combined. You’re looking to extract flavor from the limes, but not to pulverize them, which can make the drink too bitter. Pieces of lime rind may still be visible.
  3. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large pitcher or bowl with a spout. Use the back of a spoon to push out as much liquid as possible; discard the solids.
  4. Divide among tall, ice-filled glasses, garnish with lime wedges and serve immediately.