Chef John does it again.
I’ve read some wonderful lemonade ideas on HO. After buying lemons specifically for this method as well as diving fully into cucumber lemonade, I wondered what method you find results in the best flavor.
TIA.
Thank you for posting. As I read your thread title I thought to myself, “Lemonade is lemonade, how can there be an ultimate”.
Now I know better and I am definitely going to try this.
As for your question, I just normally halve and juice. I’ll add about 1 small lime per 5 lemons. I don’t like “lemon-lime” in equal proportions, but do like that little bit of lime in it. So I’ll likely zest the lime and sugar along with the lemons.
I do save the cuke water when I’m shredding for tzatziki sauce (or anything else that produces it), and put it in iced tea or lemonade, but I don’t shred cukes on purpose just to get that cuke water.
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Thank you for the reminder to utilize lime and cuke leftovers. Easy enough to freeze even up for lemonades to come.
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Conveniently for me since Vietnamese is one of my very favorite cuisines, so far I have always found that Vietnamese restaurants make superb lemonade. May I never be proved wrong!
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Mhm. Didn’t know that. Though I don’t miss city livin’. Vietnamese and Thai foods I legit miss. Never knew about he lemonade.
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Preserved lemon lemonade. Both sweet and salty. The saline level is how pungent?
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I had a lovely passionfruit lemonade at a small, family-owned Viet place here in Berlin recently. Really nice and refreshing, and not too sweet.
I love lemonade. I order it when I see it, and I make it at home from scratch.
A Lebanese restaurant in Toronto makes an orange blossom lemonade that’s a nice variation.
I have to cut back on sugar so I’m using a fraction of what most recipes call for.
I also like hot lemonade in the winter, something I first tried at an Austrian mountain cafeteria.
I made a strawberry syrup recently and added that to my Arnold Palmer . It would have also been good in lemonade.
I’m going to experiment with peach syrup this summer.
I cut back on sugar amounts from recipes and in many baked things and save it for splurges like that honey ice cream I devoured the other day. I do adore citrus, most of all lemons. When I made lemon iced tea recently I added dehydrated, sliced oranges to steep and was happy with it so I started adding the slices to lemonade. Lemonade goes with so many flavors.
In colder months, I just boil water and steep a piece of lemon and ginger in it.
Peach lemonade sounds really refreshing.
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Clever. I had the idea to make lemon sugar using zest for our lemonade stand today. But I couldn’t figure out how to strain out the fine peel easily and gave up on the idea. Now I know!
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For me, the easiest way to make lemonade is to keep a simple syrup on hand, then add to squeezed lemons and water.
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I’m boring. I combine two cups of Meyer lemon juice (we have a tree) and two cups of simple syrup to a half gallon pitcher. Top it off with ice water, et voila! Lemonade. Last summer we bought a cheap box of red wine to make tinto de verano.
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I found citric acid to definitely help with the balance!
I have to agree with the author on the enormous boost you get with lemon zest, whether lemonade or cake or frosting, sorbet, et al. Husband asked for lemonade, so I have zest and sugar macerating as we speak. Tomorrow, SUPER lemonade. ( We hope.)
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Try roasting your lemons first.
Obviously let them cool first before juicing for lemonade.
Also add a bit of za’atar.
With those two steps, you can skip the simple syrup (or any type of sweetener).
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I’m a lemon/ginger tea fan as well. I add my metamucil to mine. Just cuz I like the Tang-like flavor of metamucil as well. No other reason, really. Just an old school fan of Tang. Yup
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I like the sound of the roasting idea. Good way to reduce any need for sugar.
Not a za’atar fan but the roasting is worth a go.
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tinto de verano.-noted to try. I’d loved to have my own lemon tree. No luck so far.
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I have a little Meyer lemon tree that I’ll keep as a house plant over the winter. I haven’t had it long enough to harvest any lemons yet.
I had a lime tree before, that I kept going for about 5 years, bringing it inside from October until May.
None of the limes I grew reached maturity. I’ll keep trying.
