Recently, when I asked a bunch of people about their favourite summer snacks, most replied with ‘watermelon.’ And why not? While this summer heat kills us one frazzled nerve at a time, there is little we can do to stay cool. Watermelons are not only one of the healthiest summer snacks, they’re also excellent ingredients for everything from summer salads, to smoothies, juices, and even martinis. Here are Health Me Up’s top 3 Watermelon summer snacks.

1. Watermelon Martini: Who doesn’t love martinis? They’re easy to make, can include any fruit of the season, and taste best completely and absolutely chilled – all great qualities for a summer cocktail. This is a quick and easy Watermelon Martini recipe. As long as your neighbourhood fruit seller has a good supply of watermelons all summer through, you can whip up watermelon martinis any time it suits your fancy.

Ingredients (to serve two):

1. 1 cup watermelon juice – the fresher the better
2. 1/2 cup vodka
3. 1/4 cup simple syrup (sugar) OR 2tbsps watermelon liqueur
4. 1 lemon
5. 1 tbspn salt + 1 tbspn sugar for the glass’s rim
6. ice
7. Watermelon slices, for garnish and glass wetting

Method:

1. Mix the salt and sugar together, and after wetting each glass’s rim with a watermelon slice – dip it in the salt and sugar mixture.
2. Place the watermelon juice, vodka, lime juice, and sugar syrup or watermelon liqueur into a cocktail shaker. Add some ice and shake well.
3. Pour into martini glasses.
4. Sip the watermelon martini and look pleased.

2. Watermelon Smoothie: Watermelon smoothies are easy to whip out, a sheer delight to sip on and excellent breakfast or evening snack additions. Instead of reaching for that Coke during a movie, whip this watermelon smoothie up, add a straw, and you’ll have yourself a healthy little summer snack.

Ingredients:

1. 1 ½ cup roughly chopped watermelon
2. 1 ½ musk melon (if you have some. Or you could add some more watermelon)
3. Juice of 2 lemons
4. 1 cup skimmed yogurt
5. Some ice cubes

Method: Add all ingredients to a blender and blend into a smooth consistency. Enjoy your watermelon smoothie!

3. Watermelon Crush: When we were in school, we would eat these slush or crush things that vendors sold right outside the school’s walls. We’d relish them mostly in the summer. Who says you can’t have a healthier version of that here and now?

Ingredients:

1. As much watermelon as you want to eat.
2. 1 cup ice per kg watermelon.
3. Artificial sweetener or castor sugar to taste. You can even flavour the watermelon with some spice salts or mint and basil.

Method:

1. Remove watermelon rind and seeds, and then blend it.
2. Now add some crushed ice to the juice. Whip or pulse for a few counts. The idea is to watermelon-ify all the ice.
3. Now add this to ice trays. You can add sticks to each cube, so that you can hold the stick and suck on the watermelon crush lolly.
4. Freeze for about 6-7 hours. And your watermelon crush is ready to be your chosen summer snack of the day.

Or you could just eat the fruit!

Try these super delicious and healthy watermelon snacks this summer and watch the heat and kilos melt away.