We were on a walk when we ran into neighbors and they shared how they wish they had a lemon tree to make fresh lemonade. We live in an old citrus grove and I knew there had to be lemon trees full of lemons (because let’s be real, who needs more than a couple of lemons and the trees produce so much!)
We found a widow with a tree halfway full and we’re nearing the end of lemon season. She had picked the low hanging fruit and we offered to pick the fruit higher on the tree.
We came home with two large laundry baskets – remember – who needs more than a couple of lemons?!
We delivered some to our neighbors and offered them to friends. We were still left with lots of lemons, so we started juicing. We froze a lot in ziplock bags for later use and then we started making lemonade. We tried several recipes and landed on our favorite.
This recipe calls for a simple syrup. I’d never made simple syrup before but it was really easy. It requires mixing equal parts sugar and water and cooking it over the stove until it dissolves and then refrigerating the syrup. You can also buy simple syrup, our Wal-mart has it near the alcohol for mixing drinks. For two weeks now we’ve had a large batch of simple syrup sitting in the fridge to use when we need.
FRESH LEMONADE:
1 part simple syrup, 1 part fresh lemon juice, 4-5 parts water. Depending on the fresh lemon juice, I’ve added a little more syrup to sweeten it a little more. (Steve likes his lemonade a little tart so his water is usually around 4 parts)
If you’re looking for some variety, you can blend some strawberries or buy strawberry puree and add it in – strawberry lemonade is my very favorite.
