When Making Frozen Smoothies, Use Frozen Strawberries Instead of Ice
I recently saw several recipes for frozen strawberry smoothies (both daiquiri and margarita) that somehow don’t require syrup or any kind of sweetener. “Good strawberries are so sweet, no sugar needed!” they say.
Excuse me? I don’t know what kind of strawberries everyone else has eaten, but even the sweetest strawberries aren’t sweet enough to replace plain syrup – especially in a lime juice cocktail. There’s just too much acid. Of every pint of Hood strawberries (the sweetest strawberries) I’ve eaten this year – and I’ve eaten a lot – only about a third of the berries were candy-sweet, and mixing these little gems with a drink honestly seems like a bit of a waste. spend.
So no, I’m not going to give up sugar in my frozen cocktails – in fact, I am not known to use ice as a whole bunch of ice can add flavor and a little watery to the cocktail. Rather than relying on the (rather expensive) seasonal natural strawberry sugar to sweeten the drink, I replace the ice with frozen strawberries, resulting in a denser, fruity and super frosty alcoholic slush.
I kind of understand the appeal of not adding “extra sugar” to the drink. Sugar is not very popular with the “healthy” public, but we make a cocktail, so who cares. In practical terms, adding sugar lowers the freezing point of the water, which can make your drink too runny, but this can be avoided by adding more frozen water. Cocktails just don’t taste good without sugar, and frozen ones taste completely unpleasant without any additional sweeteners.
A sour that follows a simple ratio of 2 ounces of alcohol, 3/4 ounces of citrus fruits, and 3/4 ounces of liquid sweetener are ideal candidates for frozen strawberry smoothies. In fact, I am increasing the amount of sugar by adding a full ounce, which balances out some of the acid added to the berries. Margarita, daiquiri and even Bee’s Knees are all delicious when whisked together with frozen strawberries, unless of course you skip the simple syrup. To turn any sour into a blended frozen strawberry drink you will need:
- 2 ounce booze
- 30 grams of simple syrup
- 3/4 ounce lemon or lime
- 1 bag of 10 ounce frozen strawberries (or about 10-15 berries, depending on their size)
Add everything to a blender and beat until your drink is thick, icy and uniform in color. Try it, add more simple syrup if necessary – some berries are more tart than others – then beat for a few more seconds. Pour into a nice glass and sip through a festive straw.