Portokalada Recipe (Greek Fresh Orange Drink)

The Peloponnese grows some of Greece's best oranges, and portokalada is the simplest possible way to make the most of really good fruit: squeeze it, sweeten lightly if the oranges need it, lengthen with cold water or soda, and serve over plenty of ice. There is no cooking, no reduction, no syrup, just fresh juice treated properly.

This depends entirely on genuinely good oranges, since there is nowhere at all to hide a bland or underripe one behind sugar or dilution, and the whole appeal collapses if the fruit itself is not properly sweet and fragrant to begin with.

It is exactly the kind of thing a Greek household makes without measuring, adjusting sweetness and dilution by taste each time depending on how naturally sweet that particular batch of oranges happens to be.

Key preparation steps

1. Juice ripe, fragrant oranges.
2. Taste and add a little sugar or honey only if needed.
3. Top with cold water or soda water.
4. Serve over plenty of ice.

Choosing the oranges

Ripe, fragrant, genuinely sweet oranges are the whole point of this drink, and good juicing varieties from the Peloponnese or Crete, where much of Greece's citrus is grown, give the best result. Taste a segment before juicing a whole batch, since sweetness varies significantly between oranges even within the same box.

Sweetening only if needed

Good, ripe oranges often need no added sugar at all, and it is worth tasting the fresh juice before adding anything. If the batch is a little sharp, a small amount of sugar or honey, dissolved in a splash of warm water first so it mixes in evenly, is enough.

Lengthening and serving

Top the juice with cold still water for a simple orangeade, or with soda water for a lightly fizzy version, roughly equal parts juice to water as a starting point, adjusted to taste. Serve immediately over plenty of ice, since fresh orange juice loses some brightness the longer it sits.

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