Agua de Piña (Pineapple Water Cooler)

One of the benefits of living in Texas is the abundance of Mexican food.  It wasn't until a few years ago, however, that I was introduced to aguas frescas.  Aguas frescas are sweet, refreshing drinks made with fresh fruit and chilled water.  It's very likely that you won't find them at your typical Tex-Mex place, but they pair wonderfully with cheap, delicious taqueria tacos and quesadillas.

My undying love for aguas frescas seems to oscillate between two particular flavors: pineapple, or agua de piña, and limonada, sweet and sour Mexican limeade.  Last week I had an organic pineapple in my possession and I decided that it was finally time to make my own agua de piña.  The results were fantastic!

(I've been trying to wean myself off of overly sugary things lately and, in my own weird logic, I concluded that making agua de piña would end up containing less sugar than if I made my own limonada.  Who knows if this was correct, but my pineapple water was worth the blood sugar spike!)

 Agua de Piña (Pineapple Water Cooler)

• 1 whole small ripe pineapple
• 6 cups cold water, plus additional water for blending
• ¾ cups white sugar (You'll need between 2 Tablespoons and 3/4 cups, depending on how sweet/tart the pineapple is)

1. Prepare the pineapple by removing the rind and eyes and cut it into sections. Remove the tough core, chew on it to your heart’s content, or discard. Cut pineapple into chunks. My smallish pineapple yielded about 4 cups of chopped fruit.
2. In a blender, add pineapple chunks and just enough water to blend smoothly, about 1/4 cups water for each cup of fruit. Blend until the fruit is smooth, frothy, and light yellow in color.
3. Place a fine-meshed sieve over a pitcher and strain the pineapple blend, stirring gently to help the liquid pass through the sieve. Once you have strained all of the pineapple liquids into the pitcher, discard the foamy pulp left in the strainer and skim off and discard any foam floating in the pitcher.
4. Add six cups of cold water to the pitcher and stir well. Add between 2 Tablespoons and 3/4 cups of white sugar to sweeten the mixture, depending on the tartness/sweetness of your pineapple and your taste. For my pineapple, I used a scant 1/4 cup of sugar. The drink should be sweet in a natural fruit kind of way, not in a Kool-Aid kind of way!
5. Chill in the refrigerator until very cold. Mix well just before serving and serve over ice.