I was waiting for the perfect day to give this blackberry limeade recipe a try. I’ve spent countless afternoons sitting in parks, bundled in blankets, shivering my way through foggy summer San Francisco afternoons. I’d whine to Wayne that we should move somewhere with a proper summer (and we eventually did)! But, at the time, visions of my hand wrapped around a frosty glass of a jeweled-toned refresher like this one occupied a disproportionate amount of my time. It took a rare day with temperatures roaring past 90 degrees in San Francisco for me to take full advantage. I got my perfect summer day, and with a bit of help from Martha Hall Foose, the ideal beverage to accompany it. The recipe is from Martha’s eloquently written cookbook, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook.

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea

Cookbooks writers and enthusiasts listen up - Martha is a master of the head note. Hers are some of the most alluring, informative, and transporting lead-ins to recipes I've read. This one precedes the recipe for Cantaloupe Daiquiris:

“The hottest I have ever been in my life was at 5:45 P.M., on August 29, 1998, on the no. 923 St. Charles Avenue streetcar in New Orleans. I had been working down in the French Quarter as a pastry chef for Susan Spicer's Bayona. Some days the unique commute felt like the scene in a movie. After rattling down the boulevards, and immediately upon entering our uptown digs, I stripped down and stood in the shower with only cold water running. I could almost hear the sizzle on contact. I really felt as if I had been braised.

The courtyards of New Orleans offer a haven from the heat. Shaded and mossy, planted with sweet-smelling Confederate Jasmine, they're like Mrs. Venable's arboretum in Suddenly Last Summer. She had her trusty secretary deliver a daiquiri every day at five. The musky sweetness of the melon, married to the brightness of the basil and mint, suspended in an icy slurry, will cool an afternoon down to the slow simmer of twilight.”

I'd be willing to bet you'd like to try that recipe as well. And that's how it goes with this book - the author skillfully unveiling glimpses of her life (and love) of the South through a lovely collection of recipes.

The Recipe: Blackberry Limeade

There are many things to love about this blackberry limeade recipe. You combine freshly squeezed berry juice with a lime and cardamom infused syrup. Ginger ale is used as a mixer. And, if you ask me, the secret ingredient is the use of raw sugar or grated palm sugar. It lends deep, complex level of sweetness that you just don't get with white sugar and bridges the blackberries, lime, and cardamom wonderfully. You can serve it over ice, or blended with a wedge of lime. So refreshing!

Blackberry Limeade: Variations

I’ve listed a number of variations in the head notes. A blended version of this is nice. You can also swap out the ginger ale for other carbonated beverages or sparkling water. A splash of the syrup topped off with Prosecco is another way to go. If you don’t have access to key limes, experiment with a 50/50 blend of lime juice and orange juice. Or lime juice and lemon juice - you can play around to taste. I've also had it on my list to do a cherry juice variation earlier in the summer! You might also do a version with this special homemade blackberry syrup. A little feisty!