I love summertime!  I love all the fresh produce, and summer fruits.  Each year my family takes the time to make some homemade lemonade.  I’m talking fresh squeezed, slightly sweet and oh so tangy good fresh lemonade.  It is really easy, and so worth whatever effort that you have to put forth.  The best part, is that your kids can do the real manual labor of squeezing your lemons! 

The first step to your lemonade is to create what is known as simple syrup, which is sugar dissolved into water.  Taking this step will ensure that your lemonade isn’t grainy.  Start with 1 cup of sugar and one cup of hot water add zest from your fresh lemons and heat in a small saucepan until all of the sugar is completely dissolved.  Once cooled, you can strain out the zest. 

Next take roughly six to eight ripe lemons and juice them.  We like to roll our lemons out on the counter to bruise them a touch before juicing them, it seems to release more yummy goodness into the lemon.  You are looking to get roughly a cup of juice here. 

You’ve got your lemon juice, and you’ve got your cooled simple syrup, mix both together in a pitcher of your choice.  If you double or triple this part of the recipe you can freeze this concentrate for a later time.  I like to put it into ice cube trays to freeze.  Then you can add one or two lemon ice cubes to your fresh glass of water, yum! Or add a full batch to your pitcher and serve a crowd.  Once you place your concentrate into a pitcher you will need to add 3 to 4 cups of cold water.  This really is to taste, so experiment a little.  Yummy!

-Stephanie Wright