You will love this homemade old fashioned lemonade recipe! The taste is so much better than any commercially made lemonade, with bright, true citrus flavor from fresh lemons.
I picked up a can of name-brand frozen lemonade concentrate recently, and noticed that the first ingredient listed was high fructose corn syrup. Lemonade is the classic summertime drink, but the product made from the the can is mostly empty calories.
Lemons are an excellent source of Vitamin C, but cooking the lemon juice (the process used to make concentrate) destroys about 25% of the Vitamin C. Making your own lemonade with raw lemon juice gives you complete control over the ingredients, and the end result is not only far more delicious, it’s healthier, too!
You’ll notice that this recipe calls for a pinch of sea salt. That may seem weird, but the salt actually enhances the sweet-sour flavor profile and makes the lemonade taste even better. If you’re curious, try tasting the lemonade before and after you add the salt and see what you think.
Here’s our family recipe:
Homemade Lemonade
1 cup organic cane sugar (or more or less to suit your taste – or substitute agave nectar or your favorite sweetener)- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 8 cups ice water
- pinch of sea salt
- lemon slices and mint sprigs for garnish (optional)
Combine the sugar and hot water in a pitcher, and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the lemon juice, ice water and salt; stir. If you’re feeling fancy, serve the lemonade garnished with lemon slices and fresh mint sprigs. Makes about 10 cups.
Enjoy and stay cool!
About Eliza Cross
Eliza Cross is the author of 17 books, including Small Bites, 101 Things To Do With Bacon, and BERRIES. She enjoys sharing ideas to simplify cooking, gardening, and home projects. She is also the owner of Cross Media, Inc. and founder of the BENSA Bacon Lovers Society.
I’m going to have to try this recipe! I grew up drinking orange lemonade, my grandmother mixed a small can of frozen lemonade with a larger can of frozen orange juice. I never realized there was high fructose corn syrup in the frozen juices. I recently had a craving for lemonade and just happened to find some Organic lemonade in the store, made with zero high fructose corn syrup or other artificial sweeteners. It was delicious, but much more expensive than making it at home.
Omg! Drinking this right now! It is perfect! Thank you for this great recipe!
Sounds lovely 🙂 We have gazillions of lemons on our tree at the moment, but it’s too cold still here for ice cold lemonade. Lots of honey and lemon drinks for winter colds instead, but I really need to do some kind of baking with lemon juice to use up some more I think!
mmmmmm, one of my favorie recipeeees.
i love it with some mint or basil leaves,
gonna have to get some lemons at the store!
Did you know that your “Iced Tea” link takes you to this page? I love lemonade but I love iced tea too!
Karen,
Thank you SO much for letting me know. I corrected the link, and it should be working now. You were thoughtful to take the time to write and bring this to my attention. 🙂