This homemade concoction has to be one of the most refreshing drinks ever! One long slurp of this Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水 and you'll be sighing out a long happy ahhhhhh... It's sooo hot here in HK, endlessly hot, and I'll bet it's like that everywhere these days. So try out this easy to make traditional southern Chinese summer drink and slough off some of that heat!
The secret to this most refreshing drink is Chinese preserved plums, also known as Huamei 話梅, Wah Mui, or Li Hing Mui 旅行梅. These preserved plums are from a class of Cantonese snacks called 鹹濕, "salty wet" consisting of all kinds of dried or pickled fruits and fruit peels.
Preserved plums are delectably sweet and sour and salty, all at the same time. Sometimes they are also flavored with licorice or chen pi (dried tangerine peels 陳皮). Most of them will still have the stone inside them but if you look around you could get some that are de-stoned already.
Eat one of these and find your appetite refreshed and thirst relieved. Heatiness of the body is dispelled, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, relieving summer heat. Get a boost of vitamin C at the same time!
Chinese preserved plums are easy to find. In HK you can even get them at the convenience stores! And the supermarkets. And the wet markets. Just about everywhere, they are that popular. If you're not in HK you can for sure find them in a local asian grocery store.
The other essential ingredient is the lime. Adding lime to this drink raises it from refreshing to sublimely refreshing!
You can use any kind of lime you like. I love limes for that subtle citrusy sour that they give up. So different from the strength of the lemon.
I would recommend the small Thai limes, kaffir limes (if you can get your hands on some, they're amazing!) or these new limes that we have recently discovered, the calamansi limes. These tiny limes pack a most delicious sour!
Now to start making the drink. Add sugar to your drinking glass. We used raw sugar, also know as turbinado sugar, for its lovely caramel taste. (We also use raw sugar for our homemade expressos, delicious!) You could also use honey if you prefer.
Add in Chinese preserved plums. You could add more according to your preference. The preserved plums are the main flavor for the drink so adjust as you like.
Add in boiling water to cover and then cover the whole glass with a plate and wait for a bit, allowing the sugar to melt and the huamei to soften.
Next thing is the fun part of this drink. Use a chop stick or a spoon to lightly pound/mash on the preserved plums to loosen it and release the flavors. When this drink is served in restaurants you are always provided with a straw and a spoon so that you can mash away at the preserved plums and limes. It's part of the ritual and fun of the drink!
See how the drink has turned a milky white? That's the preserved plums infusing the water.
Once the plums are properly softened it's time to add the lime and the ice. For the lime we simply sliced our small calamansi lime in half, removed the seeds, squeezed juice into the glass before dropping the halves in too.
Add enough ice to cool the drink down. Then add the desired amount of sparkling water. Pop in a straw and your refreshing Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Soda 話梅檸檬水 is ready to go! Take a long rejuvenating sip, kick back and enjoy your summer!
Chinese Preserved Plum Lime Drink
話梅 旅行梅
(makes one drink) Prep time: 5 minsIngredients:
- 3 tsp raw sugar
- 2 Chinese preserved plums (preferably de-stoned)
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1 lime
- 3 cubes ice
- 3/4 cup sparkling water
Directions:
Add sugar and preserved plums to a drinking glass. Add boiling water and then cover the glass with a plate. Let sit for 3 mins or until the sugar is melted.
Use a chopstick or spoon to gently mash the preserved plums until softened and the flavor infused into the water.
Slice lime into half and remove the seeds. Squeeze the lime juice into the glass and then drop the lime halves in as well.
Add ice and then top off with sparkling water.
Serve with a straw (and a long handled spoon if you like). Enjoy the cool!
Delicious Drinks at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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