Do you want some lemonade :) ?
A cool an and refreshing drink for the summer days … and not only … lemon and honey make a good combination even for winter days … but for now let’s just stay in the hot season :) … So you are craving for a fresh lemonade full of flavour and colour. It’s very simple to prepare it. I’ll present here the steps I follow and the main ingredients I use when I make lemonade, a classic recipe with mint. Of course you can add different layers of colour and flavour and we will have a little discussion about that too …
About the main ingredients …
First of all to make lemonade it is obvious you need lemons right :) ? Choose the “best you can get” (if you can find organic/bio lemons …) and test them with your hand. You don’t want them to be very hard because you’ll obtain a reduced quantity of juice but also you don’t want them to be too soft (like start loosing freshness). Once you have the lemons you have to squeeze them in order to obtain the juice. You can use a citrus reamer or an electric squeezer just make sure you separate the juice from the seeds. Keep in mind that usual for a classic lemonade you need about 1.5-2 parts lemon juice to 10 parts water (15-20%). It is just an estimative ratio, feel free to adjust it on order to match your preferences. I want to make it a little lighter so it can be consumed in larger quantities so I stick closer to 15% maybe even less…
A sweetener … I use honey for the lemonade but of course there are many options like maple syrup or unrefined sugar. But be aware that the flavour of the sweetener will influence the overall flavour of the lemonade so if you don’t want surprises try to use a neutral taste sweetener or if you use a syrup or some special type of honey give it a taste first to see it matches your preferences. If you find a strange taste in honey or syrup it is better not to use it … (I experienced myself such situations…) Quantity ? A tea spoon of honey (or syrup or unrefined sugar) to 250 ml of lemonade is a starting point ( about 2 t-spoons for 500 ml ) … but better taste it and make the fine tuning yourself.
Mint leaves - If you like the refreshing mint flavour go on … count at least 10 leaves for 500 ml lemonade
Basil leaves - Combined with mint leaves … you’ll get another layer of flavour … 2 fresh leaves for 500 ml lemonade
Ice … 4 - 5 blended ice cubes for texture and temperature, and two in the serving glass … again for a 500 ml lemonade
Water … I used bottled water without gas - keep it in the fridge at least 2-3 hours…
Variations … I often add some blueberries or strawberries or both. If you are looking for a rose clear colour a table spoon of blueberries or 2-3 strawberries well blended will be enough but if you want a deep red colour and more flavour you can add more …
INGREDIENTS - for 500 ml lemonade
Organic / Best you can get lemons - 250-300 grams
Or
Fresh lemon juice - cca 75 ml
Organic / Best you can get honey - 30 ml
Best you can get fresh mint leaves - cca 10 leaves
Best you can get fresh basil leaves - cca 2 leaves
Water - 400-450 ml
Ice cubes - 6-7 pcs
How I do it ?
In a blender, I add the honey, the fresh squeezed lemon juice, the mint and basil leaves, 4-5 ice cubes and cca. 100 ml of water and blend well for at least 1 minute. Then I pour the concentrated lemonade in a big cup and complete with the rest of water, 2 ice cubes and … a mint leaf and a slice of lemon for decoration if you consider. If I use additional fruits like blueberries or strawberries I blend them with the ice, lemon and honey from the start …
If I prepare a larger quantity I do the same… I blend well the honey, the lemon juice, ice cubes, leaves and other fruits with a small amount of water and then in a bigger recipient I add the remaining water …
Feel free to experiment with any additional fruits you like …
Enjoy !
