Good Morning, Darlings!
My friend Curtis is a hoot – he is always coming up with new ideas for food. Last week he thought it would be cool to make a watermelon keg and fill it with champagne. I invited him over to build it at our house so I could document the entire process.
First, you need a watermelon. Check.
Okay, We've Got the Melon
Then you need the hardware with which to extract the beverage. Curtis bought the spigot, washers and tubes at our neighborhood ACE Hardware. Home Depot would work, too.
Spigot For The Keg
Curtis cut the top off, ala jack o’ lantern style. You have to cut at an angle so it will sit nicely on top when you have finished scooping and refilling.
Now The Melon Has A Pretty Little Hat
We used a 10″ ice cream scoop to take out all the pulp. Curtis thought ahead and bought a seedless watermelon. Good work, Buddy! Scoop your pulp into the canister of a blender and blend it up!
Isn't The Color Glorious?
Whirl It All Together - Not the champagne!
We wanted to make sure that we had pure juice, no fibers. For this, we strained the blender mixture through a sieve into a pourable container.
Strain, Strain, Strain
After all the pulp is scooped out of the melon, it’s time to make the hole for the hardware. Use a long, thin knife here, if you have one. Then, insert tube with attached spigot and screw on the washer inside. Voila!
Make Sure the Tube That Inserts Through The Melon is Long Enough
Finished Keg!
Curtis took this to his kickball team and they enjoyed it that night.
A few notes for you:
1. Melt some wax around the outside of the spigot to prevent leakage
2. If you have the time, use some of the juice and freeze in ice trays to keep your beverage cold. The watermelon is not a great insulator.
3. Don’t fill until right before serving. If you need to transport, put your juice in a sealed pitcher and dispense right before imbibing.
4. You might not like champagne (what??), so vodka is an acceptable replacement. Or any other adult beverage you might enjoy. Be creative.
Doesn’t this look like fun? Now, go make yourself one!
xoxo, Patti
Today blogging to Johnny Dollar and The Spare Change – The Watermelon Song
Arlynn! How fab! Let me know how it all goes. xoox, P
I LOVE watermelon and am just salivating over these photos! Growing up in Florida, I have spiked plenty of watermelons. Thanks for sharing such a cool trick – much better than the methods I perfected in High School 🙂
Christy! So much chicer than drinking hunch punch out of trash cans. LOL! xox, P
how very cool. i made a drink recently like this, and as a surprise, i might suggest pureeing a cucumber for an added ‘summery’ taste, a little lime juice, and honey.. (vodka, not champagne here). recipe was from Martha Stewart’s Everyday FOOD magazine.
Tiffany – what a fabulous idea! I love it! xoxo, Patti
I love it how cool!