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
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 ⅓ 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 prior to 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 individual glasses to prevent watering down of this delicious lemonade.
- Garnish with mint leaves, strawberris, or lemons 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.
Servings: 4