Juice à la Conchita

Every meal in Ecuador, whether in a restaurant or someone’s home, comes with a glass of fresh, homemade fruit juice.  Coconut, pineapple, mango, blackberry, apple, and pear are a few varieties in English.  Guayava, maracuya, tomate de arbol and naranjilla are others made from fruits we don’t have words for.  Between enjoying all of these juices, I am trying to soak up some of the know-how from Conchita when we are both in the kitchen.  Here is how to make one juice à la Conchita.

Ingredients

2 apples

1 handful of blackberries (or a pear, third apple, or other fruit)

½ cup of natural cane sugar (or sweetener of your choice)

Directions

Fill a medium size pot with about 8 cups of water.  Add two apples, cored and sliced in quarters; skins are okay.   Place the pot on the stove and just when the water is about to boil, toss in a handful of blackberries.  Add about a half-cup of natural cane sugar and stir to dissolve.  After boiling for a couple of minutes, remove the pot from the stove to cool.   Once the liquid is at a manageable temperature, put the apple chunks in the blender.  Strain the water and blackberries into the blender, smashing the blackberries to extract as much juice as possible while catching the seeds.  Blend until smooth, strain into a pitcher, and serve.