I was reading one of my favorite gossip blogs when I happened upon a post concerning NYC Real Housewife/has-her-own-show-now Bethany Frankel. Not going to talk about the “lost at sea” part, quite frankly, I could give two shi#s about her show but one thing caught my interest: that her Skinny Girl Margarita was being pulled of retail shelves….hmmm…
After a little google time, found out that Whole Foods pulled the mixer because it was found to contain sodium benzoate despite the fact that it claims to have “no preservatives/all natural flavors” and sodium benzoate is a known carcinogen (used as a preservative and in other foods too!)-PS the citrus is enough of a preservative…
a collection of chemistry-reference.com, photopix.com and my sorry-a$$ photoshop skills
Whatever, the whole point of this post is that you can make this yourself, make it organic and without the BS preservatives (which you DON’T need). The great thing about this recipe is that you can put it in the fridge, freeze it or can it. Find a friend with a lemon and/or lime tree and you are making this for pennies-reinvest that $$$ into good tequila instead-priorities people!!
BACKYARD Meyer Lemon MARGARITA MIX
(good for 4 pints of mix+ …make yourself a margie with the leftovers)
- 10# juicy meyer lemons or enough lemons for 8c of juice
- 3T local honey OR 3T agave OR 1/2c organic/fair-trade sugar
PROCESS
If you have a juicer, juice all if the citrus after rolling them each on the counter.
If you do not have a juicer, or your juicer was only made for a few citrus at a time you can juice them the old-fashion way:
peel the fruit, rough chop and heat in a large pot while smashing with a tater smasher for 10 min. strain away the pulp using a colander.
(the pix below are from a recent class taken by Pablo one of the students-thank you!!)
peeling the lemons-old school juicing!
straining the mixture
Once you have the juice add about 1/4 sweetner (tasting after 1/8c has been added). You can always add more sweetner when you actually make your drink. Mix well
filling the jars with mix!
Prepare 4 pint jars and lids. Fill the mix to about 1/2in headspace and process in a boiling water bath for 5 min. If the jars seal after processing, you are good to go and can have great all natural margarita mix at any time! If they don’t seal, get them in the fridge and throw a BBQ in the next month so you can use it all.
*note: if you have leftover juice that went over the 4 pints but not enough to fill the 5th pint to the same headspace, better make yourself a drink pronto!
MAKING YOUR MARG
Once you have made your mix now what?
Open up one of those pints and add it to a quart jar (with a lid). Add 4-6 shots of tequila a few ice cubes and 2 shots triple sec or the juice of 1 orange. Fill into glasses with ice.
OR
Add entire pint to with tequila/triple sec/oj and 2 pints of ice into the blender.
serves 4-6 small glasses (depends on the glass and how strong you want it)!
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