Column: Drink up to cool down

Although we can practically taste the first tailgate, hot and humid days have invaded Bloomington. We have a few more weeks of sunshine to keep us smiling, but it keeps us sweaty, too.

Lemonade stands lingering around the neighborhood seem to be any child’s best business plan, and the stands always seem to be in high demand.

Frozen lemonade is the most complementary addition in my book, and the sweet soother is popular on both sides of the equator.

Whether using limes or lemons, I found a variation of our sensational sweet-and-sour favorite recommended to me across countries during my semester at sea.

Starting in Brazil, I could never have enough lime caipirinhas, Brazil’s national cocktail.

Made with Brazil’s finest sugar cane, fresh limes, a dash of cachaça rum — for those of drinking age — and sometimes a spoonful of honey, the drink is served over crushed ice.

A local informed me the word caipirinha comes from the Portuguese word caipira, which signifies the countryside.

The drink, traditionally a folk remedy, relieves cold and flu symptoms, and the delicious healer is now celebrated in Brazil as an authentic cultural concoction.

Since limes are abundantly grown in Haiti, another place I stayed, I came home to ji sitwon every day.

The freshly squeezed lime juice is mixed with water, sugar, honey and sometimes ginger to remedy stomachaches, making me feel good as new. I would pick and squeeze the limes myself and add the perfect amount of sugar to make an unbelievably fresh squeeze from scratch.

Summer in Israel would be incomplete without limonana, my favorite beverage. In Hebrew, the word means “lemon mint.” The combination of lemon juice and mint leaves has become a celebrated favorite created in Israel and is popular throughout the Middle East.

Mint is often used as an herbal remedy to treat nausea and heal digestive disorders. Commonly added to teas and treats, mint is an easily harvested herb in
almost every Israeli’s backyard.

You can easily buy mint leaves and add them as the perfect addition to dozens of dishes in need of a quick kick. Mix a cup of lemon juice, a cup of water, three cups of ice, half a cup of mint leaves and three to four tablespoons of sugar or lemonade mix into a blender. Blend for about two minutes, and you will feel freshly minted.

For a perfect IU refresher, I made myself a crimson limonana with a cup of lemon juice, half a cup of mint leaves and a cup of cherry juice.

From one country to the next, I found handfuls of heat-remedying variations of everyone’s favorite simple, soothing sweet treat. I suggest you play it up with other herbs, including lavender and rosemary, and get crazy with some frozen fruits, too.

Maybe you can keep cool from Bloomington’s boiling days and find the remedy for stress from homework overload. Drink up!

­— espitzer@indiana.edu