Watermelon Recipe

Prepare watermelon

Reserve 1 cup of fresh watermelon cut into small wedges or scooped balls and place in the refrigerator to keep chilled for garnish. Cut the remaining watermelon into 4 cups of cubes (about 1-inch).

Place the 4 cups of watermelon cubes into a blender. Add the fresh lime juice and simple syrup. Blend until smooth, about 20–30 seconds.

Strain the blended watermelon through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl or pitcher, pressing solids with a spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Discard pulp (or save for another use). You should have roughly 10–12 oz of watermelon juice.

Fill each serving glass with about 3/4 cup of ice cubes (adjust if making single large or multiple glasses). For the recipe quantities, plan for 2 servings; divide ice evenly between glasses.

Pour 5 oz of strained watermelon juice into each glass (half of the prepared juice per glass).

Top each glass with 5 oz sparkling water, pouring slowly to preserve effervescence. Gently stir once with a bar spoon to combine.

Add a few pieces of the reserved fresh watermelon into each glass so they float among the ice and bubbles.

Optional: Moisten the rim of each glass with a lime slice and dip into coarse salt for a light salted rim.

Tuck 4 mint leaves into each glass (slap them briefly between your palms first to release aroma) and garnish the rim with a lime wheel.

Serve immediately while sparkling water is still effervescent.