• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

China Sichuan Food

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Index
  • Sichuan
  • Subscribe
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Index
    • Sichuan
    • Subscribe
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Pantry

    Winter Melon Tea

    Last Modified: October 26, 2018 by Elaine| 8 Comments

    183 shares
    • Share on Facebook
    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Healthy winter melon tea for the hot summer;
    I know that this summer drink might be slightly strange to you. However if you ever visited Taiwan, you may see it available everywhere. In China, winter melon tea is believed to be help people dealing with hot temperature. And since it contains no fat and may help to eliminate extra water in human body, winter melon tea is also named as slim tea, indicating that it might be help to loose weight.

    healthy winter melon tea

    Firstly, I would think the taste is slightly weird especially when served hot. However it really taste fresh and cool when serve with ice cubes. By the way, just for some information, winter melon 冬瓜 is a common ingredient in Chinese kitchen. It goes well with soups, braised dishes and even salad. When serving this winter melon, you will need to dilute concentrated liquor by three times of pure water. The little bottle in the following picture is the concentrated  liquor  I extracted from winter melon while the two cups behind are diluted version.

    healthy winter melon tea
    healthy winter melon tea

    Winter Melon Tea

    Elaine
    Healthy and traditionally winter melon tea. Perfect iced drink for summer.
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 1 hr
    Cook Time 2 hrs
    Total Time 3 hrs
    Course Drinks
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 2
    Calories 646 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 1500 g winter melon
    • 250 g brown sugar powder
    • 50 g rock sugar

    For serving

    • Clean water
    • Ice cubes

    Instructions
     

    • Wash the winter melon carefully and then remove the skins. Then cut the left part into small cubes. Throw them into a large pot.
    • Spread brown sugar powder and give a big stir to mix them evenly. Set aside for around 1 hour until there is a thin layer of water in the bottle.
    • Use high fire to bring everything in the pot to a boiling and then add rock sugar. (I would suggest adding the skins and seeds back in this step. But it is totally up to you) Slow down the fire to simmer for 1.5 hours to 2 hours based on your cooking ware until the winter melon is totally transparent. Turn off the fire and wait to cool down.
    • Strain the juice out. And press the winter melon with heavily during the process to get as more juice as possible. Or you can use gauze to wrap the winter melon and squeeze the juice out.
    • How to store: store in airtight container and refrigerate up to 2 weeks, as there is no preservatives in our homemade version.
    • How to serve: add water three times more than the juice to make an easy winter melon tea whenever you want. Add some iced cubes will make it a perfect summer drink.

    Notes

    For a even sweeter taste, you can adjust the amount of rock sugar.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 646kcalCarbohydrates: 161gProtein: 3gSodium: 40mgPotassium: 166mgSugar: 146gVitamin C: 7.5mgCalcium: 329mgIron: 6.9mg
    Keyword tea, Winter Melon
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood

    healthy winter melon tea

     

    healthy winter melon tea

    More recipes you may enjoy

    • Chinese Pork Bun
    • Pork Fried Rice
    • Szechuan Lotus Root
    • Three Cup Chicken

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. KP Kwan

      June 10, 2015 at 3:54 am

      Hi Elaine,

      Thanks for the recipe. That is the favorite item in my family since I was young.

      KP Kwan

      Reply
    2. Marie

      June 17, 2015 at 8:12 am

      Interesting! Never thought of winter melon to make tea. I will definitely give it a try!

      Reply
    3. Mien

      May 20, 2016 at 5:22 pm

      Thank you for the recipe! I left the melon pieces to soak in brown sugar overnight and left out the rock sugar because my family doesn't like sweet drinks. It's chilling in the refrigerator now. Can't wait to drink it. 😀

      Reply
    4. Andreas

      May 20, 2018 at 6:03 am

      Hi Elaine,

      the "brown" sugar you use looks strange to me. It seems to have very small crystals and it looks kind of "wet". I do get brown sugar in two kinds. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet and from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane with the first one being more common here. But they both form rather large crystals. What kind of sugar are you using for this tea?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        May 26, 2018 at 2:53 pm

        Andreas,
        The sugar I used in this recipe is made from Sugarcane. We call it "甘蔗" in Chinese.

        Reply
    5. Andreas

      July 27, 2019 at 5:48 am

      Hi Elaine,

      I'd really like to try this. But I'm having trouble figuring out how much water to start with and what amount to reduce it to.

      Reply
      • Kim

        September 21, 2019 at 11:54 am

        Andreas, I was a bit confused myself, but from my understanding it does not look like you'd add any water during the boiling process. And that you'd just turn off the heat when the melon becomes transparent.

        The water comes when you are ready to serve it, add 3 times the amount of water to winter melon concentrate in your cup only. Hope, I'm interpreting it correctly!

        Reply
        • Andreas

          October 17, 2019 at 5:28 am

          Thank you Kim,

          yes now when I reread it you're probably right.

          Too bad summer is already gone... I'll try next one.

          Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi Welcome

    Hi welcome to my little corner where I sharing authentic and easy to follow Chinese recipes. Don't be limited by the site name. Know me more from About Page.

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Popular

    • Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Congyoubing)
    • Mapo Tofu Recipe
    • How to Make Boba Pearls at Home -Tapioca Pearls
    • Twice Cooked Pork--Szechuan Pork Stir Fry
    • Red Braised Pork Belly —(HongShaoRou)
    • Pork and Mushroom Stir Fry

    Find Recipes

    Email List

    Subscribe Our Email list to get updates and recipes

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Privacy Policy. Disclaimer. About. Hot Pot cookbook

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 ChinaSichuanFood.com | All Rights Reserved