Australian Finger Lime and Garden Basil Spritz with Peak-Harvest Melon

Make the basil syrup first: bring half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water to a simmer, take it off the heat, drop in 15 basil leaves and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain and chill it thoroughly. Steeping off the heat rather than boiling the leaves keeps the syrup a fresh green instead of a stewed khaki.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 cups ripe honeydew melon, cubed and chilled
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup basil simple syrup (see step 1)
• 20 fresh basil leaves
• 6 oz dry white wine or dry vermouth
• 2 finger limes, or 1 extra lime, for finishing
• 1 1/2 cups chilled sparkling water
• Pinch of fine sea salt
• Clear ice cubes, for serving
• 4 thin melon ribbons and 4 basil sprigs, to garnish

Instructions

1. Make the basil syrup first: bring half a cup of sugar and half a cup of water to a simmer, take it off the heat, drop in 15 basil leaves and let it steep for 20 minutes. Strain and chill it thoroughly. Steeping off the heat rather than boiling the leaves keeps the syrup a fresh green instead of a stewed khaki.
2. Blend the chilled melon with the lime juice and the pinch of salt until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. The salt is not optional — it makes melon taste more like itself and stops the drink reading as flat sugar water.
3. Strain the melon puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher, pressing gently. You are after a clean, pale juice, not a smoothie.
4. Stir in the basil syrup and the wine or vermouth, then taste. Melons vary enormously in sweetness across the season, so adjust with more lime or more syrup until it sits right on the edge of tart.
5. Chill the base mixture for at least an hour. A pre-chilled base means the ice in the glass dilutes far less.
6. Slap the remaining basil leaves between your palms and drop a few into each glass — slapping bruises them just enough to release the oils without shredding them into bitter green flecks.
7. Fill the glasses with clear ice and pour the melon base over, filling each about two-thirds.
8. Top with chilled sparkling water and stir once, gently, from the bottom up.
9. Finish by squeezing the finger lime pearls over the surface, then garnish with a melon ribbon and a basil sprig, and serve immediately.
10. Finger lime is a native Australian rainforest citrus from the border country of Queensland and New South Wales, used by Aboriginal communities for millennia and only widely commercialized in the last thirty years. The fruit splits open to release tiny juice-filled vesicles that pop like caviar, and Australian bartenders have built a whole idiom around them. Paired with summer melon and basil, it makes the sort of drink that suits a southern-hemisphere Christmas or a northern August equally well. If you cannot find finger limes, a heavy squeeze of ordinary lime over the top loses the texture but keeps the intent.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 185 kcal
• Protein: 1g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 31g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 27g
• Sodium: 95mg