Real Strawberry Lemonade From Simple Ingredients

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The key to this strawberry lemonade recipe is in the zest of the lemon and the fresh strawberry puree! Strawberry lemonade from scratch is worth the effort to enjoy the original refresher made with only four ingredients.

Real Strawberry Lemonade From Simple Whole Ingredients:

Strawberries, lemons, water and sugar. Only four simple ingredients to make this refreshing, and nostalgic drink.

When you grab juice off the grocery store shelf or even in the cooler, who knows how long it has been sitting on the shelf in the container it is being sold in?  Who knows what else was put in the lemonade or juice?  Possibly it has added natural flavor, preservatives, or color dyes to maintain a color for weeks to months.  

The convenience of purchasing pre-prepared food and drinks has diminished the quality, nutrition, and taste of food and drinks that we all have loved for years.  Sometimes I wonder if people know what the food or drink is to actually taste like. 

Taking the time to make recipes at home is not only the best way to enjoy the food or drink, but is almost like a research history or science project.  That is how a lot of recipes have been for me.  I was 17 years old when I found out you could make hot fudge sauce from scratch.  I thought hot fudge sauce only came from a jar or the ice cream shop.  When I made a hot fudge sauce for the first time, my mind was blown. Not only was it easy to make, but the flavor could not be topped.  That is how I feel about making all versions of lemonade as well.  

Making memories with homemade recipes:

In addition, when I make from scratch items such as this lemonade my family gets so excited.  My family knows that when they come to my house, they will be getting something special that they can’t get anywhere else.  It makes them feel special and it makes me happy to see them happy and eager to enjoy what I have prepared for them.  This is the same as when I would go to my Grandma Mary Jean’s house.  When I would visit my Grandma I knew she had something for me that I could only experience at her house and I love passing on that feeling at my house.  I always felt like I was experiencing and enjoying a bit of history and nostalgia when eating at my Grandma’s house. Now, I love being a keeper of old ways and bringing the past to the present for my family and friends.

How long have people been enjoying lemonade?

For centuries and centuries! Lemonade began being for sale in the 1600s.  That is a long time.  For a drink to remain popular for hundreds of years is really saying something.  

Are there any benefit to drinking lemonade?

One benefit of lemons is that they provide vitamin C.  Vitamin C is an antioxidant and vitamin C is important for many aspects of your health.  Vitamin C is important for your immune system. It helps fight infections, it’s good for your skin, bones, and even your teeth, and has many other benefits. 

 An ongoing statement at my house is so we don’t get scurvy.  I have 5 lemon trees, a Satsuma mandarin, an orange tree, and two lime trees.  I produce year-round citrus on my property.  When I first learned of scurvy as a child in elementary school, it really made a profound impact on me.   It occurred to me how important citrus fruit (or any source of vitamin C) is on a regular basis.   Almost every time I add a squeeze of lemon to something I tell my daughter; this is so we don’t get scurvy.  Also, as a dental hygienist when I see advanced gum disease, I ask about nutrition right away.  A symptom of scurvy is swollen, bleeding gums, and tooth loss.  

Another benefit of lemons and lemonade is that lemons stimulate healthy salivary flow.  The tartness and sweetness of the lemonade help to quench thirst by stimulating saliva.  Lemonade in moderation provides a good source of hydration for the body.

Lemonade is a healthier alternative to soda.  As it also provides needed vitamins; lemonade can be made at home with simple ingredients.  In addition to that, lemonade tastes great!

Ingredients:

Sugar: Granular Sugar is the most commonly used lemonade.  I often use baking sugar which is finer ground than granular sugar and helps it to dissolve more quickly. The measurements for regular granular sugar and baking sugar will be the same.

Water: filtered or regular tap water is okay to use.

Lemons: there are many varieties of lemons out on the market.  On my property, I have two kinds.  I have Meyer Lemons and Eureka Lemons.  Meyer Lemons are not tart enough for many true lemon recipes like lemon curd or lemon pudding but are great in everyday cooking.  I use Meyer Lemons to subtly brighten up a dish and especially for marinating. Meyer Lemons are also a great option for lemonade because they take less added sweetener. They take less sweetener because they are naturally sweeter to begin with. For lemonade, a tart lemon such as the Eureka Lemon will give you the true nostalgic flavor of lemonade of yesteryear.   In this recipe, an organic tart grocery store lemon variety was used to standardize the recipe.

Strawberries: are readily avaliabe all year long in grocery stores. Did you know that a strawberry is a type of Rose? Well, they are in a subfamily of the Rosaceae family which does include roses. This is probably why strawberries smell so good! There are more than 600 different varieties of strawberries! I have around 6 different varieties of everbaring strawberries that provide me with strawberries from spring all the way through fall. They also contain a lot of vitamen C which is great for your health. Strawberries are about 91% water, so, they’ll easily make a puree. Strawberries are a good fruit to eat because they are low on the gycemic index.

Substitutions:

Simple syrup can be substituted for all the sugar and a portion of the water if you already have some made and would like to use it.  See my recipe for simple syrup.  Simple syrup is a 1:1 sugar-to-water ratio.  This recipe calls for ¾ cup of sugar and 3 cups of water.  Here you adjust the recipe to use 1 ¼ cups of simple syrup and 2 ¼ cups of water. (Plus the additional 3 tablespoons of sugar that is separate and used to macerate the strawberries for the strawberry puree.)

You can use other options such as cane sugar or turbinado sugar.  These sugars may take longer to dissolve because they are a more course granule. Coconut sugar will alter the true flavor of the strawberry lemonade. (Coconut sugar is not recommended.) 

Low-calorie and low-carbohydrate sweeteners such as monkfruit or monkfruit blends.  For example, Lakanto a monk fruit and erythritol blend can be substituted for sugar.  I always use less Lakanto than sugar. If substituting Lakanto monkfruit sweetener for sugar start with a third of the sugar and add then add sweetener slowly as needed.  I do not have a recipe for lemonade swapped with Lakanto currently.

Honey, you can use honey instead of sugar to make lemonade.  You will need less honey than sugar.  Start with half the amount of honey to sugar ratio and increase the honey as needed based on your personal taste.  (I do not have a recipe for lemonade with honey posted currently nor do I have an exact amount of honey to sugar swap to recommend.)

Any substitutions will be an on-your-own experiment, as I only have a recipe for granular sugar at this time.

Try some of my other non-alcoholic drink recipes:

Mocktail: Cucumber and Grapefruit Spritzer, and Non-Alcoholic Mocktail: Blueberry Lime Spritzer

Items used in this Post:

Wusthof Culinar Knife Set, Cutting board, Napoleon Bee 12 oz Wine Glasses, Vitamix, Glass Pitcher, lime squeezer, lemon squeezer, Fine Mesh Strainer Set

How to make Real Strawberry Lemonade From Simple Ingredients:

ingredients:

• Strawberry Puree:
  • 1 ½ cup of strawberries
  • 3 Tablespoons of sugar
• Lemonade:
  • 1 ½ cups of Lemon Juice:
  • For 1 ½ cups of lemon juice, you will need about 8 Large lemons. Each lemon will provide 2-3 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice. (1½ cups = 24 tbsp)
  • Zest of 8 lemons: zest all 8 lemons before squeezing the lemons to extract their juice. Only zest the outer yellow layer, not the white pith as the pith is bitter. The zest will steep in the lemon juice for at least an hour and then be strained through a mesh strainer before adding the lemon juice to the pitcher with the sugar and water.
  • ¾ cup of sugar
  • 3 cups of water

step by step instructions:

Wash and dry 8 large lemons (more if small).

First, zest all 8 lemons (each lemon will produce about 1 ½ teaspoons of zest). The 8 lemons will produce about ¼ cup to 1/3 cup of zest. 

Second, cut each lemon in half and juice each lemon.  I prefer to use a lemon or lime squeezer or a lemon reamer for this. After the 8 lemons are juiced, you should be left with about 1 ½ cup of lemon juice.  If you have not reached 1 ½ cup of lemon juice, check to make sure you have extracted all of the juice from the lemons or juice more lemons until you reach 1 ½ cup of lemon juice.

Next, Combine the 1 ½ cup of lemon juice and the lemon zest.  Cover and put into the refrigerator for 1 hour to up to 6 hours to allow the zest to steep in the lemon juice and release the lemon oil in the zest.

Then, in the serving pitcher add ¾ cup of sugar and 3 cups of water.

Stir with a wooden spoon or a long utensil to combine the sugar and water until dissolved.

Now, place the serving pitcher in the refrigerator to chill.

While the lemon juice is steeping with the lemon zest and the sugar and water are chilling in the refrigerator, make the strawberry puree.

Strawberry Puree:

First, wash the strawberries.

Next, hull the stem from the strawberries, and be careful to lose as little of the strawberries as possible.

Once all strawberries are hulled, slice the strawberries.

Add the strawberries to the blender. (If using an immersion blender, add berries to the appropriate dish to use an immersion blender in.)

Then, add the 3 tbsp of sugar to the strawberries that are in the blender waiting to be blended.  Let the sugar and berries sit for 15 minutes to 30 minutes in the blender. This allows the sugar to macerate the strawberries.  Macerating allows the berries to soften and release their juices.  This produces a type of syrup around the berries.  The liquid syrup aids the blender in making the fruit puree.  If you are in a hurry and want to blend the fruit right away, add 1 tbsp of simple syrup to help the puree blend easier. (See my recipe for simple syrup.)

After the berries have macerated with the sugar and a syrup has formed; blend until all the fruit is smooth and there are no large pieces of fruit visible.

Pour strawberry puree into a separate serving pitcher until ready to use puree:

Transfer to a smaller separate serving pitcher (this could be a Pyrex measuring cup) and later combine into the entire lemonade by stirring with a wooden spoon or long utensil.  (No need to strain the strawberry puree the additional texture of the strawberry puree is wonderful in the lemonade.)

Once the lemon juice and the zest have had time to steep together (or it is time to serve to your guests) take both the lemon juice zest mixture and the serving pitcher that contains the sugar and water out of the refrigerator.

Next, place a size-appropriate wire mesh strainer (sieve) on top of a Pyrex measuring cup. Pour the lemon juice zest mixture into the mesh strainer that is on top of the measuring cup to strain the zest, pulp, and any possible seeds out. Then, pour the strained lemon juice from the Pyrex measuring cup into the pitcher that contains the sugar and water mixture. 

If you choose to keep the strawberry puree separate, keep the puree in its own smaller serving pitcher and add one to two tablespoons of the puree per glass of lemonade. (If I know my guests like strawberry lemonade, I add the puree straight to the large serving pitcher containing all of the lemonade. Or, if I have a second pitcher of regular lemonade, I add the puree all at once.  However, if I have only one pitcher of lemonade and I do not know my guests’ likings or if my brother is a guest, I serve it separately.  My brother is allergic to strawberries, so for him, I keep the puree separate and add to the individual glass as needed.) Add the strawberry puree slowly. Taste test as you go to see if you want to add all or just a portion of the strawberry puree based on your preference.

Stir to combine all ingredients:

Then stir one final time to integrate all ingredients. 

Check to see if you need to add sugar or a very small amount of water per your palate preference due to the variation of the tartness of the lemons and the juice they produce.  If you add water only add a tablespoon at a time.  If you add sugar, only add a teaspoon at a time and let it completely dissolve and incorporate before adding more.

DO NOT ADD ICE to the pitcher of lemonade.  Instead, serve the lemonade chilled. (It should be chilled as all ingredients have been in the refrigerator for a minimum of one hour before the incorporation of all ingredients. )

I recommend offering ice on the side in an ice bucket or bowl.  This allows guests to choose to add ice to their glasses to prevent watering down this delicious lemonade.

Garnish with mint, strawberries, or lemon slices if desired. Enjoy!

Please note: Any substitutions will be an on-your-own experiment I do not have a recipe to swap substitutions at this time.

Items used in this Post:

Wusthof Culinar Knife Set, Cutting board, Napoleon Bee 12 oz Wine Glasses, Vitamix, Glass Pitcher, lime squeezer, lemon squeezer, Fine Mesh Strainer Set, Pyrex Measuring Cups

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