When I first saw a recipe for grilling citrus slices I wondered just how good those would be. I thought about the fact that I had a few extra lemons, limes and oranges in the refrigerator that really needed used up and thought what the heck. I also had canned lime juice, so creating a limeaid drink to try the grilled citrus slices in was possible. Then I thought about the strawberry cane sugar I bought. I had not tried it yet, but figured that would be good sprinkled on the citrus slices, thus a new grilled drink was born. Here is how I made it.
First I sliced one lime, two lemons and two oranges. I set them aside in a large bowl so the juice they dripped was not lost. I put the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours because I was not ready to grill the citrus slices at that time. You could grill them as you sliced them if you prefer.
I grilled the citrus slices on a fresh piece of foil after I had cooked a meal. I wanted to make sure the coals were hot, but that the fire had died down some. I did toss a handful of fresh hickory chips on the coals about five minutes before I put the citrus slices on. I wanted the smokey hickory taste.
I laid the citrus slices out on the foil and sprinkled the strawberry cane sugar on top of them.
I allowed the sugar to melt slightly, then turned them over. My time estimate was one to two minutes.
I sprinkled more strawberry cane sugar on the side I turned to face upwards. Again, I let them cook about two minutes.
You have to pay close attention to the citrus slices at this point so they do not burn. Once they begin to brown, remove them and put them back into the bowl they came out of.
You can see in the picture above what my grilled citrus slices looked like after they came off the grill. I put them – including any liquid in the bowl – into a one gallon glass pitcher. I added two cups of lime juice, one-and-a-half cups of cane sugar and filled the rest of the gallon up with cold tap water. I stirred the mixture well making sure the sugar dissolved and served over ice.
The drink was different than anything I had tasted previously. I wouldn’t want to turn this into an everyday drink, but for cookouts, I think it is an ideal pairing to go with grilled foods. The colder the drink gets, the better I think it tastes.
