Few things offer the same refreshment as a glass of iced lemonade drunk on a hot day. Try making it at home instead of buying it ready: you can customize the amount of sugar and use top quality lemons. If you want you can give it a nice pink color simply by adding fresh strawberries. If you are short on time, put all the ingredients in the blender and then filter the lemonade; this way it will be ready in a flash.
Ingrediants
Classic Lemonade
- 400-500 g of sugar
- 1, 2 l of water
- 6 large lemons or 400ml lemon juice
Yield: about 2 liters of lemonade
Pink lemonade
- 300 g of sugar
- 200 g of fresh strawberries
- 1, 1 l of water
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 470 ml of lemon juice
Yield: about 1.7 liters of lemonade
Quick Procedure
- 3 lemons
- 1-1, 2 l of water
- 70 g of sugar
- 2 tablespoons (40 g) of sweetened condensed milk (optional)
Yield: 4-6 servings
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Classic Lemonade
Step 1. Squeeze 6 large lemons to get about 400ml of juice
To make it easier to squeeze, press them against a flat surface and roll them, then cut them in half and squeeze them. Rotate the lemon as you squeeze it with the juicer to extract as much juice as possible. Keep squeezing until you get 400ml of juice.
- If it's not the right season to buy fresh lemons, you can use ready-made juice. Look for it in the supermarket refrigerated counter and make sure it doesn't contain too many preservatives.
- To get even more juice out of lemons, heat them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds before squeezing them.
Step 2. Dissolve 500g of sugar in 250ml of water
If you are concerned that the lemonade is too sweet, you can only use 400g of sugar. Pour it into a large pot and add 250 ml of water.
- Use a saucepan with a capacity of at least two liters.
- The water and sugar are the basis for the syrup that serves to sweeten the lemon juice.
- If you want, you can replace the sugar with a sweetener of your choice, for example with agave syrup or liquid stevia.
Step 3. Heat the water for 4 minutes
The sugar must dissolve and form a thick syrup. Set the heat to medium and stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved completely. You need to get a thick and transparent syrup.
Make sure the sugar has dissolved completely or you will feel the grains under your teeth when you drink the lemonade
Step 4. Stir in the remaining water and lemon juice over the heat off
Gradually add the 400ml of lemon juice. Pour it into the syrup little by little and mix to combine the two ingredients. Also add the remaining 950ml of water. Use cold water to quickly lower the temperature of the syrup.
Suggestion:
taste the lemonade to see if it is as sweet as you want. If it's too sour, add 2 tablespoons (25 g) of sugar. If it is too sweet, add the juice of half a lemon.
Step 5. Leave the lemonade in the refrigerator for an hour or until it has cooled
Carefully pour it into a heat-resistant jug and place it in the refrigerator. Let it cool for at least an hour. If you want to serve it quickly, you can divide it into two jugs so that it cools more quickly.
Do not use ice to cool the lemonade, otherwise it will melt and dilute the taste. Wait until it has cooled before adding the ice cubes
Step 6. Serve the lemonade with ice
When you are ready to drink it, fill the glasses with ice and distribute the lemonade. If you want, you can decorate the glasses with zest or a slice of lemon.
Store leftover lemonade in the refrigerator and drink it within 4 days. Cover the jug to prevent the lemonade from absorbing the smell of food in the refrigerator
Method 2 of 3: Pink Lemonade
Step 1. Combine the sugar, strawberries and 500ml water in a saucepan
Pour 300 g of granulated sugar into a large pot, add 200 g of roughly chopped fresh strawberries, 500 ml of water and put the pot on the stove.
Another option is to use fresh raspberries, but as they are not as sweet as strawberries you will need to use 400g of sugar
Variant:
you can also make pink lemonade using cranberries. Make a simple syrup by dissolving 200 g of sugar in 300 ml of water on the stove. When the syrup has cooled, add 250 ml of cranberry juice, 250 ml of lemon juice and a scant 1 liter of cold water. Chill the lemonade in the refrigerator and serve it with ice.
Step 2. Bring the mixture to a boil
Adjust the heat to medium-high and wait for the water to boil briskly. Stir the mixture in short intervals to dissolve the sugar quickly.
Leave the pot uncovered to prevent the syrup from boiling over
Step 3. Reduce the heat and let the syrup simmer over low heat for 3 minutes
Lower the heat so that the water simmers gently. Keep stirring the syrup regularly until it turns pink in color.
As they cook, the strawberries will soften and release their color
Step 4. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest
Grate the zest of two lemons with a citrus grater. Incorporate it into the syrup, stirring, then let it cool completely.
Grate only the yellow part of the lemon peel because the white part is bitter
Step 5. Filter the mixture
Place a colander over a pitcher and slowly filter the mixture to separate the liquid part from the lemon zest and strawberry pulp.
- At this point you can throw away the strawberry pulp and zest present in the colander.
- To get as much syrup out of the strawberries as possible, squeeze the pulp against the mesh of the colander with the back of a spoon.
Step 6. Blend the syrup, lemon juice and water inside the jug
Remove the strainer from the pitcher and add 470ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice and the remaining 600ml of cold water. Stir to mix the ingredients that make up the pink lemonade well.
If you don't have fresh lemon juice available, you can use the packaged one
Step 7. Chill the lemonade in the refrigerator
Place the carafe in the refrigerator to chill the lemonade before serving. When you are ready to drink it, fill the glasses with ice and pour it. If you have leftover, you can store it in the refrigerator and consume it within two days.
Method 3 of 3: Quick Procedure
Step 1. Cut 3 lemons into 4 parts, then trim the individual pieces at the ends
Wash 3 lemons, place them on the cutting board and divide them into 4 equal parts with a sharp knife. Remove the last inch of zest at the ends using a small knife and discard the scraps.
Trimming the lemon pieces at the ends removes much of the white and bitter portion that surrounds the pulp
Step 2. Put the lemon pieces in the blender along with the cold water and sugar
Use 1 liter of cold water and 70 g of granulated sugar. For an extra sweet and creamy lemonade, you can also add 2 tablespoons (40 g) of sweetened condensed milk.
- If you want, you can use powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. Its tiny grains dissolve more easily.
- For a less tart lemonade, you can add another 200ml of cold water.
Step 3. Blend the ingredients for one minute on high speed
Put the lid on the blender and turn it on. Blend the ingredients until the lemon pulp has been completely chopped. The liquid part will have the color of a normal lemonade.
The juice of the lemons must mix with the water, but the zest must remain intact. Be careful not to blend too long or the lemonade will taste bitter
Suggestion:
if you use a very powerful blender, turn it on at short intervals so as not to completely blend the lemons.
Step 4. Let the lemonade sit for 2 minutes in the blender
After blending the lemons, turn off the blender and wait a couple of minutes. Gradually the smaller lemon pieces will rise to the surface.
You will have less trouble filtering the lemonade if you let it sit. In addition, the flavors will have time to blend
Step 5. Strain the lemonade as you pour it into the carafe
Place a fine mesh strainer on the pitcher and pour the lemonade slowly. The colander will retain the solid parts of the lemon while the liquid will fall back into the jug.
If the holes in the colander become clogged, stop and discard the scraps
Step 6. Pour the lemonade into the glasses
Fill them with ice before pouring the lemonade. Drink it immediately to prevent the ice from melting and diluting the taste.
You can store leftover lemonade in the refrigerator for a couple of days. The ingredients will likely separate, but just mix it before serving
Advice
- With grenadine you can make lemonade pink in seconds. Add a teaspoon to each glass.
- In the summer, you can use lemonade to make some awesome popsicles.
- Use lemonade instead of water to make ice cubes; in this way, when they melt, they will not dilute the taste.
- Try using carbonated mineral water. You will get super bubbly lemonade, especially if you use the blender.
