Give It a Squeeze
Homemade lemonade is one of the things we all associate with the lazy days of summer, but the reality is in this day and age, not very many of us know how to make it. And certainly, when it comes to the economics of a lemonade stand (and you’ll find lots of tips on setting up a lemonade stand), it’s crucial if you’re thinking of helping the kids with one. Any young entrepreneur will soon find that serving real lemonade comes with a much higher cost structure than Kool-Aid, and might just price them out of the kiddie market, where kids only have a quarter to spend.
But, inspired by some of her summer reading, my 9-year old daughter recently decided she wanted to try to make some ‘real lemonade’ and lots of kitchen experimenting ensued. After much trial and error, we learned you need a lot more lemon juice and sugar than you would think, and that it’s pretty tough work without a proper lemon squeezer. But once we found out about the miracle of simple syrup, and the easy-to-remember 1-to-1-to-1 ratio, we had our summer lemonade recipe down cold…and that’s just how we’ve been enjoying it.
Summer Lemonade
Serves 6
You’ll Need
- 1 cup sugar (you can reduce to ¾ cup for less sweet lemonade)
- 1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
- 1 cup lemon juice (about 4–6 lemons)
- 3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute after you make the base)
Prep and Cook
- Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
- While the sugar is dissolving, juice the lemons (a juicer works best if you have one).
- Add the juice and the simple syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water to taste (less will give you a sweeter flavour). Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes until cool. Serve with ice, sliced lemons and/or mint sprigs.
What’s your favourite summer drink?
