Lemonade & Variations

What could be better for the tail-end of summer than a cool glass of lemonade, or maybe a lemonade twist? My favorite drink for hot weather is the Rose Lemonade, which I devised after visiting a restaurant in Ashland, OR (that sadly is no more!). Alternatives are included in my recipes to give your last summer event a perfect drink compliment. So what's your favorite style?


Classic
"The Best" Lemonade (Or Limeade)

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup lemon (or lime) juice
3 more cups water
about 2 cups ice, more or less for your own personal taste

Method:
Pour your juice into a large pitcher.
Heat sugar and 1 cup water in a pot on the stove, until it mixture reaches a rolling boil and all sugar is dissolved.
Pour sugar/water mixture into your pitcher with the juice
Add remaining 3 cups of water, add ice, stir and enjoy!

***This method can be easily set to any amount of juice you have! Match the initial 1:1:1 of water, sugar, juice ratio to whatever amount of juice you have. The second amount of water is simply 3 times the initial amount. Although you may find your personal taste likes lemonade more sweet or sour, you should have a pretty good (if not perfect) base recipe to start with. No more guessing!

Alternatives to this recipe:

• Make "The Best" Lemonade, and add 1 1/2 teaspoons rose water (available at wholefoods, or middle eastern food markets) per cup lemon juice. A sweet, floral alternative to plain old lemonade. 

• Limeade is WAY underrated, and I must say I would opt for limeade over lemonade any hot summer day if I had enough limes! So switch out lime juice for lemon juice, and follow the recipe for a drink with more zing! Note: also pairs VERY well with rosewater.
  
• Half-half it with lemon-lime, lemon-orange, or lime-orange (my personal favorite of the half/halfs). Just remember when you're making this that it will be much sweeter with the fresh squeezed orange juice, so reduce the sugar by 25-50%. A great way to do this is make a regular batch of sugar syrup, and add only half of it. After the other ingredients are in, add as much as you want more to taste!

• I love fruity variations of lemonade that they sell commercially, so I devised my own method for raspberry or blackberry flavoring. Add 1/2 cup berries and 2 additional tsp lemon juice to the sugar syrup before you boil it, and allow to simmer until the berries break down & release their flavorful juices. I don't use cheesecloth to strain this, because I'm not that picky about bits of raspberries in my drink, but if you feel the need, go ahead! I use a fine wire mesh strainer to strain it into the lemon juice, and proceed with the recipe from there. (note, you can also puree the berries and strain them for the juice, but this doesn't make it pop as much, flavorwise. It does however give your drink a lovely pink/purple cloud that is cute at girly get-togethers. I recommend adding a few whole raspberries or blackberries to the finished product for show!

• I sometimes feel left out when everyone else is having a mixed drink (I'm not a drinker) and there is nothing but juice for me! So to spice up a drink I pour 2/3 a glass of lemonade, add two ice cubes, two raspberries, juice from 1 orange, 1/2 tsp orange blossom water (also available at whole foods or your local middle eastern foods market) and 1/2 tsp rosewater. I find it makes the drink less "downable" - meaning you're less likely to tear through them at a faster rate than the imbibers, but also adds different complex flavors to it (and interesting colors! I am the queen of toddler drinks...)

Happy drinking!