Bug Juice

photo: Eric Diesel

Summer is a special season even in the land of endless summer.July Fourth finds the citizens of West Hollywood just as likely to exodus for the long weekend as at any other locale. Palm Springs is a popular destination, as is Las Vegas. Traffic snakes a long line in both directions on the Pacific Coast Highway from wine country to San Diego. 

As it was in New York, a bond forms between locals who stay local on long weekends. In our building, residents stay local for every reason from being scheduled to work to looking forward to the neighborhood July 4 barbecue (cookout, for you non-Westerners) at Plummer Park. There will be churrascurria courtesy of Brazilian neighbors laboring over red hot oil drums, and caviar from Russian vendors chipping at blocks of ice. John and I will bring ice cream (peach and chocolate malt) and pitchers of rosé sangria and lemonade.

Yes, it is nice to have something lined up, but there is particular pleasure in having no particular plans. That laid-back LA vibe is real. An effect of living in endless summer is that, as a rule, Angelinos are hesitant to overschedule our time. Don't kid yourself, we work as hard as anyone else, but as a rule, we want to free time to remain truly that: free. Non-Angelinos can and do smirk, but there is much to be said about going with the flow, of seeing what develops, of going where the sunlight and the sunset take you. And after twenty five years of heavily scheduled days and nights, for all that I miss about New York, one thing this New Yorker does not miss, and firmly believes his life is better without, is stress.

If anything brings to mind lazy vacation days, it is bug juice. Bug juice first came to our attention as kids, when it was served in a paper cup by a camp counselor or a matronly lady with a hairdo during a recess; from a plastic tub with a spigot at the municipal pool or the sidelines of the playing field; from a favorite aunt or a neighborhood lady on a babysitting afternoon. Silly grown-ups like to think that bug juice is called that due to the gnats it attracts on the rim of the cup, but kids know the real reason: bug juice is made from the same stuff that gives us greasy grimy gopher guts and mutilated monkey mouths.

Bug juice was the default cold drink of my childhood. My grandmother's bug juice was a lively scarlet fruit punch served from a ribbed aluminum drink dispenser so heavy that the menfolk had to work together to lift it onto the picnic table.Though I have access to a stash of her recipes, I don't have that one; I would give anything to.The Baptist church ladies across the street dispensed Dixie cups of an eye-poppingly sweet, nuclear green bug juice that I think was lemon-lime and that I suspect was from a powder.School cafeteria bug juice was orangeade or grapeade.

I'm always a bit confused by the sight of a contemporary child guzzling soda pop. We never really had it -- not by dietary fiat, though that would have been a justifiable reason -- so I never really developed a taste for it. Whether a carbonated beverage is a soda or a pop is another column and a matter of geography and familial history. Ditto the navigating of the delightful output of the olde-tymey soda fountain, with its eye-widening menu of sodae, phosphates, bromides, sparklers, ales, and other crazy waters.

To this day, I like to make and serve cold, fruity drinks. Here are my original recipes for some of my favorite cold drinks, all of them fun to make and to drink. For the purposes of this column and of our summertime drinking pleasure, I hereby warrant that bug juice is either the phyla of sticky-rimmed fruit drinks of childhood or adult versions thereof. In this case, adult does not mean alcoholic, but every good bartender knows how to make non-alcoholic beverages, and many bug juices can be spiked. Wherever you drink your bug juice, from patio tiles to beach blanket, from picnic table to back porch buffet, don't begrudge the gnats joining in the festivities (though for goodness sakes, don't swallow them). Bugs are social animals, and the truest reason bug juice is called that is not the sugary content of the cup, but the socialization of the bug juicers around it. 

Bug Juice

To make bug juice you will need cold, filtered water (click here for Urban Home Blog's recommendations for water filtration) and, depending on the recipe, fizzy waters that are all available in the mixers aisle of the supermarket, liquor store or soda distributor. Specialized equipment or ingredients where utilized are noted in each recipe - click here for more details. 

Italian Soda

1. Fill a soda- or chimney glass with crushed or cubed ice. Drizzle 2 shots cherry, lime, lemon, orange, apple or peach Italian syrup over the ice. Fill the glass with sparkling water. Stir lightly.
2. Place a straw in the glass and serve immediately.

Lemonade*

1. Cut 15 lemons in half crossways.
2. Position a clean mesh strainer over the opening of a mixing bowl with a spout. Use a hand-held lemon press or a lever-press juicer to press the juice from each lemon half; pouring through the strainer to catch any seeds, pith, or fibers. Add 1 cup superfine sugar to the lemon juice. Use a wire whisk to mix the lemon juice and the sugar together until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Fill a serving pitcher 1/2 with cold filtered water; it should be about 3 - 4 cups. Swirl the water around the pitcher to temper the glass. Use one hand to pour the sweetened lemon juice into the water while using the other hand to stir the mixture as you pour.
4. Serve the lemonade over cubed or crushed ice. Garnish with a lemon wheel if you like.

• Strawberry Lemonade. Clean and hull 1 dry pint strawberries. Place the strawberries in a bowl. Sprinkle the strawberries with 1 teaspoon superfine sugar. Use a fork or a clean potato masher to mash the strawberries into a juicy pulp. Add this mixture to the lemon-sugar mixture and stir it together thoroughly before adding to the water in the pitcher.
• Cucumber Lemonade. Peel 2 cucumbers so that no green peel remains on the white flesh. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise. Use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the pith and seeds from the center of each half. Run each half under cool water to clear out any remaining pith or seeds. Roughly chop up the cucumbers and safely use an electric mini prep to grind the cucumbers into a watery pulp. Carefully transfer the pulp to the lemon-sugar mixture and stir it together thoroughly before adding it to the water in the pitcher.
• Basil Lemonade. Lightly bruise three or four sprigs fresh clean basil by rolling them between your palms. Place the basil into the pitcher after mixing the lemonade.
• Arnold Palmer. Measure the water into the serving pitcher early in the day. Place 4 black teabags in the water. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap. Place the pitcher in a safe place in the sun to steep for four hours before removing the teabags and adding the lemon-sugar mixture to the tea in the pitcher.

Limeade*

1. Cut 12 medium or 15 small limes in half crossways. Use a hand-held lime press or lever-press juicer to press 2 cups lime juice into a large saucepan. Heat the lime juice over medium-low heat until it starts to bubble. Slowly add 1 cup sugar into the heating juice. Stir the lime-sugar mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and set aside to cool 1 hour.
2. Fill a serving pitcher 1/2 with cold filtered water; it should be about 3 - 4 cups. Swirl the water around the pitcher to temper the glass. Use one hand to pour the sweetened lime juice into the water while using the other hand to stir the mixture as you pour.
3. Serve the limeade over cubed ice. Garnish with a lime wheel if you like.

Pineapple Frost

1. Measure 1-1/2 cups fresh or canned pineapple juice into a measuring cup with a spout. Add 1 teaspoon superfine sugar to the juice. Use a wire whisk to stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1/4 cup sparkling water to the mixture.
2. Mound two water goblets or margarita glasses 3/4 with crushed ice. Carefully pour 1/2 of the mixture around the rim of each glass so that the mixture seeps into the ice from the outside.
3. Serve immediately.

Citrus Sparkler

1. Cut an orange or ruby grapefruit in half crossways. Use a glass juicer or lever-press juicer to press the juice from each half.
2. Fill two soda glasses with cubed ice. Fill each glass 1/3 with sparkling water or seltzer. Slowly pour 1/2 of the pressed juice into each glass so that it begins to mix with the fizzy water. If you wish, top the drink with a floater of Grenadine.
3. Put a straw in each glass and serve immediately.

Shirley Temple

1. Prepare a lemon-lime soda following the directions for Italian Soda above, using one shot each lemon and lime syrup.
2. Fill a soda glass with crushed or cubed ice. Pour one shot Grenadine syrup over the ice. Fill the glass with the lemon-lime soda. Stir lightly.
3. Place a straw in the glass and serve immediately. 

Grape Slush

1. Fill a freezer-prepared slush and shake cup with fresh or bottled white or concord grape juice. Use the accompanying paddle to stir the juice until it reaches a slushy consistency; stop when you begin to see white ice crystals. Use the paddle to scrape the slush into a soda glass.
2. Place a straw in the glass and serve immediately. 

Raspberry Phospate

1. Clean one dry pint raspberries by gently running them under a thin stream of cool water. Transfer the raspberries into a small saucepan. Pick through the raspberries to discard any green leaves, brown pieces, or other discolored or off-smelling pieces. Sprinkle the raspberries with 2 teaspoons superfine sugar. Use a muddler to mash the raspberries into a pulp. Add 1/2 cup water to the pan. Heat the mixture over medium heat until a thick, fragrant syrup forms; approximately 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and set aside to cool 1 hour.
2. Fill two soda or parfait glasses with crushed ice. Pour 1/2 of the raspberry syrup into each glass. Add 1 dash food safe acid phosphate to the glass. Carefully fill the glass with soda water.
3. Place a straw and a long handled spoon into each glass and serve immediately. Part of the fun of a phosphate is stirring the mixture so that it fizzes, so it is okay that you are serving the drink unmixed.

Rickey

1. Fill a highball glass with crushed ice. Cut 1 lime in half crossways and use a lime press to press the juice into the glass. Drop both juiced lime rinds into the glass. Fill the glass with club soda.
2. Stir the drink and serve immediately.

• Cranberry-Lime Rickey. Drizzle the ice with 1 shot lime simple syrup (recipe here) and 1 shot cranberry juice before pouring the club soda into the glass.
• Blackberry-Pear Rickey. Add 4-6 blackberries to the lime juice in the glass; omit the lime rinds. If necessary, lightly muddle the berries to break them up. Drizzle the ice with 1 shot lime simple syrup (recipe here).and 1/2 shot pear nectar before pouring the club soda into the glass.

*Pitcher drinks

Resources

Urban Home Blog's recipe for lime simple syrup

Urban Home Blog's recipe for ice pops