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| Happy Summer! |
This recipe will make two gallons of lemonade. I used 10 very small lemons, 2 cups of sugar, water, and a handful of fresh mint and fresh basil from my plants. The investment is about $4 – and the lemons were not on sale. For measuring purposes, count on one cup of sugar per gallon and 1 1/2 cups of lemon juice per gallon. If you want to add more sugar or more lemons, add them. I don’t like syrupy sweet lemonade so this recipe isn’t overly sweet.
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| Ingredient List |
Begin by making a simple syrup with about 4 cups of water and the sugar. Slowly heat the water and pour the sugar in. Stir frequently until the sugar dissolves. Don’t let it burn. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the burner and set the pot aside.
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| Dissolve sugar into a simple syrup |
Before juicing the lemons, I added zest from 2-3 of them into the bottom of the lemon juice bowl. It adds more lemon flavor to use the entire lemon.
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| Zest lemon into the bowl |
Juice the lemons. I made 3 cups of juice for two gallons of lemonade. It took about 30 minutes to juice 10 by hand. Be sure you completely juice the lemons so you won’t waste any juice.
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| Juice the lemons |
Lemon Juice at Last! Whew!
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| Lemon Juice |
Make sachets of herbs to float in the lemonade. I used an onion bag. Some lemons come in a net bag so use whatever you have.
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| Prepare the herbs |
Roughly chop the herbs into the net.
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| Herbs |
Tie the ends of the netting into a knot. Leave room for the liquid to circulate around the herbs and don’t pack them in the netting too tightly.
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| Herbs ready for lemonade |
Pour the simple syrup and the lemon juice into your container and stir. Drop the herb satchel into the lemonade. Add one gallon of water and stir and then the rest of the water as needed. Taste the lemonade as you add water so you don’t water down the flavor beyond what you like. Once the water is added, allow the lemonade to refrigerate overnight so the herbs will marinate in the citrus acid and flavor the lemonade.
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| Almost ready to drink! |
Serve with slices of lemon floating in the pitcher for visual effect. You may also slice left over lemons to for individual servings on glasses with fresh herbs.
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| Lemonade ready to serve |
Invite your friends over for an afternoon on the front porch and enjoy your summer!
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| Delicious! |
#summer #summertime #lemonade #kids #lemons #recipe #diy