Lemon drink or lemonade is a favorite treat for both adults and children.
Initially, it was prepared using lemon juice and sugar, diluted with water.
Over time, other citrus fruits, as well as berries, fruits and spices, began to be added to it.
Lemon drink - basic principles of preparation
To prepare a lemon drink, use regular or carbonated water.
The traditional homemade lemon drink is not carbonated.
To do this, use lemon zest and juice, turmeric or saffron and granulated sugar.
Mix everything until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved and put in the refrigerator for several hours. Serve the drink with ice cubes.
There is also a simpler method that does not require long-term cooling. Dissolve the sugar by pouring a little water, bring to a boil, and mix the syrup with lemon juice. Add water and serve chilled.
To add flavor and aroma, herbs or spices are added to the lemon drink. For example, ginger and mint perfectly complement the taste of lemon.
Homemade hot lemonade: step-by-step recipe
Suppose we are preparing lemonade for a family - let us end up with 15 glasses of the finished drink, i.e. 3-liter jar (the table of ratios for other cases is given above). Then to prepare homemade lemonade with lemon and mint we will need the following ingredients:
- 3-4 medium lemons;
- sugar – 1.5 cups (this is 300 g);
- mint - half a glass (this is 100-200 g).
The sequence of actions is as follows:
Step 1. Wash the lemon and mint, remove the zest from the fruit. First, you need to pour boiling water over the lemon, then wipe it thoroughly and remove the zest with a housekeeper or a special knife.
Also at this stage, the white skin that covers the pulp is removed. And of course, don’t forget to get rid of all the seeds - they not only get caught on the tooth, but also tend to taste bitter.
Step 2. Meanwhile, let the sugar syrup boil - pour the entire amount of sugar into 1-2 glasses of water, cook over moderate heat, stirring until completely dissolved.
Step 3. While the syrup is being prepared, extract lemon juice using a squeezer, blender or meat grinder.
Step 4. You can put the remaining water in the refrigerator to cool for now.
Step 5. And then mix all the ingredients, cool again for half an hour and garnish with mint when serving.
HELPFUL ADVICE
For a more intense mint flavor, you can boil it with syrup and then remove all the sprigs. But we will still decorate with fresh herbs - they serve the drink perfectly and give it additional aroma.
Recipe 3. Lemongrass drink
Ingredients
lemon;
two liters of boiled water;
sugar – 50 g.
Cooking method
1. Boil water in a kettle and cool it to room temperature. We will need warm water.
2. Cut the washed lemon into four parts. Transfer it to a blender container and add sugar. Grind everything into a paste.
3. Pour warm water into a blender and blend until the sugar crystals are completely dissolved. Close the container with a lid and leave for a couple of hours for the drink to infuse. Then strain the drink through a sieve, pour into a carafe and place in the refrigerator. Serve with a slice of lemon.
Lemonade recipe for kids
In order to prepare lemonade for children at home, for 4 cups of drink we will need:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup lemon juice (from about 5 lemons)
- 1-2 cups of cold water.
How we will cook:
- Pour powdered sugar into a container and pour boiling water into it (to be safe, it is better for an adult to do this).
- Stir to completely dissolve the sugar in the water. Place the jug of sugar syrup in the refrigerator to cool. To speed up the process, you can add ice to the jug.
- While the sugar syrup is cooling, squeeze in the lemon juice. To make one cup of lemon juice, you will need about five or six lemons.
- Strain the fresh lemon juice into a pitcher containing the cooled simple syrup. According to your taste, add one or two cups of cold water and stir.
- Dress your lemonade with lemon slices, mint leaves, rose petals or a pretty straw and enjoy!
Recipe 4. Lemon drink “A la mojito”
Ingredients
a bunch of mint;
two lemons;
sugar;
water – 1750 ml.
Cooking method
1. Wash the lemons and pour boiling water over them. Use a sharp knife to remove the zest.
2. Transfer the zest to a saucepan, pour in one and a half liters of water, boil and simmer for about half an hour. Then turn off the heat and cool.
3. Squeeze the juice out of the lemons and put it in the refrigerator.
4. Rinse the mint. Place it in a deep bowl, fill it with a partial glass of water and crush it with a mashed potato masher.
5. Pour mint water, lemon broth and juice through a sieve into the carafe. Add sugar and stir. The amount of sugar depends on your preference.
How to quickly make lemonade at home: cold method
Let's start by remembering the classic ratio: for 1 lemon - approximately 100 g of sugar and 300 ml of water (1 large glass or 1.5 standard glasses). Other components can be added as desired.
The sequence of actions is as follows:
Step 1. Wash the lemon, cut it into several parts and remove the seeds. The zest can be removed or the fruit can be left unpeeled.
Step 2: Extract lemon juice using a blender, juicer, or by hand.
Step 3. Pour it into water, where you also add sugar.
Step 4. Stir thoroughly until completely dissolved, cool, add ice.
This recipe for homemade lemonade from lemons seems like it couldn’t be simpler. However, there are some tricks here too:
- First of all, it is better to soak citrus fruits in hot (but not boiling) water for several minutes before cooking. An alternative is to put them in the microwave on medium power for 1-2 minutes. Thanks to the heat, the lemon will release juice more readily and will also enrich the drink with even greater aroma.
- Another interesting trick is to roll the lemon on the table, pressing hard on it. Here's how it's done.
- How to squeeze juice by hand is clear. This can be done either without any equipment at all, or using a convenient squeezer.
- Or you can use an electric juicer, blender or even a meat grinder.
HOW TO GET FLAVORED JUICE
But how will it taste better? Oddly enough, in this case, the “manual”, gentle approach does not work as well as the automated option. The fact is that you can only squeeze the juice out of the pulp by hand.
But grinding the skin this way at home is unlikely to work. But a mechanical device will also grind the zest, and then homemade lemonade from lemon, orange or other citrus fruits will turn out not only tasty, but also fragrant.
Recipe 7. Italian lemon drink
Ingredients
a glass of lemon juice;
two glasses of fruit syrup;
lemon zest.
Cooking method
1. Pour the fruit syrup into a deep container, add a glass of lemon juice to it and mix.
2. Pour six cups of boiling water into the lemon-fruit mixture. Add lemon zest and leave for several hours for the drink to infuse. Strain the drink into a convenient container and place it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
The benefits of homemade lemonade
What homemade lemonade is famous for is its transparency! In every sense of the word. You yourself can control the amount of added sugar, the quality of fruits and other ingredients.
Mineral water is a source of important micro- and macroelements. It improves metabolism, strengthens the immune system, cleanses the body, regulates acid-base balance and even has a slight anti-age effect.
Lemon juice is primarily vitamin C. This means it protects the body from viruses and bacteria. In addition, ascorbic acid is necessary for the synthesis of hormones. It lowers blood pressure and removes harmful substances from the body.
Thus, it turns out that homemade lemonade:
— quenches thirst and prevents dehydration;
- protects the kidneys from the formation of stones in them;
- increases the body's resistance to diseases;
— strengthens capillary vessels (this is vitamin P contained in citrus fruits);
- fights stress;
- improves mood;
- increases performance.
Please note that we are only talking about lemonade, which a priori does not contain dyes, preservatives, flavors or other additives. In addition, even the most healthy drink at first glance can be “killed” with a large dose of sugar.
Recipe 9. Lemon drink with ginger
Ingredients
four lemons;
two liters of water;
50 g granulated sugar;
50 g ginger.
Cooking method
1. Peel the ginger and grind it into small shavings. Pour a glass of water into a saucepan, add sugar and grated ginger. Keep on low heat until the sugar crystals dissolve completely.
2. Remove the syrup from the heat and leave for ten minutes so that it infuses with ginger.
3. Wash the lemons, cut them in half and squeeze out the juice. Mix lemon juice with syrup. Pour in the rest of the water, stir and serve with plenty of ice cubes.
Lemonade with lavender
-4 glasses of water
- juice of three lemons
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tbsp. l. lavender flowers
Pour half the water into the pan, add sugar, lavender and bring to a boil. After this, reduce the heat and cook for another five minutes. Leave the resulting syrup for an hour to infuse. When the syrup has cooled, strain it through a sieve and mix with lemon juice. Dilute with the remaining water, mix and put in the refrigerator for half an hour. Add ice before serving.
Recipe 10. Lemon drink using fermentation method
Ingredients
160 g sugar;
40 ml vinegar;
lemon;
two liters of boiled, chilled water.
Cooking method
1. Wash the lemon and cut into thin circles. Transfer them to a glass jar. Fill with water, cover with a lid with a small hole, and leave in a warm place for a week.
2. Don’t forget to stir the drink every day. After the allotted time, strain the lemon drink, pour it into bottles, and leave it in the refrigerator for another three days. It is worth noting that bottles should be no more than two-thirds full. Serve with plenty of ice.
How to properly consume frozen fruit lemonade
There are no special restrictions for healthy people. Since a person quickly gets bored with the same product, an overdose is excluded. After a week of active use, the desire to drink lemonade disappears for a while. When the reserves of ascorbic acid are used up, you will again want lemonade.
In general, the daily dose of the drink for a healthy person is 1.5 liters. If you drink more, side effects may occur. As for people with chronic diseases, drinking lemon water is allowed 2-3 times a week or every day, but one glass.
If you have chronic diseases associated with increased formation of hydrochloric acid, you are allowed to drink lemonade in small quantities 20 minutes after eating. In other cases, it is recommended to drink the drink before meals. You also need to take into account the following features - cold lemonade invigorates, tones, retains fluid in the body, warm lemonade accelerates metabolic processes, eliminates symptoms of toxicosis.
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Refreshing lemonade
To prepare the drink, you need to prepare the following ingredients in advance:
- 3 liters of water, 2 lemons ;
- a bunch of mint;
- 200 grams of sugar.
Drink preparation steps:
- First you need to rinse the lemons thoroughly. Leave the mint in a colander with cool water for a few minutes.
- After this, remove the zest from the citrus fruits with a sharp knife. In this case, you need to try not to damage the white skin. If such skin gets into the drink, it will acquire a bitter taste. It is recommended to remove the zest with a vegetable peeler. If you don't have it, you can use a knife.
- Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a separate plate. After this, you need to cut the squeezed lemon pieces in half again. This is done in order to remove the pulp, which is added to the zest. Place in boiling water:
- lemon zest;
- citrus fruit pulp;
- granulated sugar, mint.
- The drink is prepared over low heat for two minutes. After this, remove the dishes from the heat and cool the drink.
- At the final stage, the lemonade needs to be strained. Then add lemon juice. The finished drink should be served with mint sprigs and ice cubes.
With added strawberries
Juicy strawberries give the drink an unusual, memorable taste. Children will especially enjoy this homemade lemonade. The drink contains the following ingredients:
- honey 200 grams, 850 ml water;
- 220 grams of ripe strawberries;
- 180 ml lemon juice;
- crushed ice, mint leaves.
The process of preparing the drink is presented below:
- Place honey in a separate pan and add 250 ml of water. The resulting ingredients are mixed until smooth.
- Strawberries are poured into a colander. The berries are thoroughly washed in warm water, cut into four equal parts and crushed in a blender.
- After this, add the honey mixture. Then you need to grind all the ingredients to a puree.
- Squeeze the required amount of juice from 3-4 lemons. The resulting drink is filtered into a decanter.
- The juice is mixed with strawberry puree and the remaining water. You can add a few ice cubes and a small amount of mint to the finished drink.
Recipes for homemade lemonade using frozen lemons
Preparing the drink is very simple. To vary the taste, you can add other berries and fruits.
- Classic recipe
You will need frozen lemon, cut into thin slices, 1.5 liters of boiled water, 5 tbsp. spoons of sugar. Throw lemon into a container, pour warm boiled water, add sugar. Let it brew for 2 hours. Strain. Drink chilled. In the summer heat, you can add pieces of ice.
- Cinnamon
Use about 5 frozen lemons. Fill with two liters of warm boiled water. Add sugar to taste. Throw in a cinnamon stick. Let it brew for several hours. Strain. If desired, you can also add ground ginger.
- With honey
You need to prepare frozen lemons, lightly carbonated mineral water, honey, fresh or dry mint leaves. The fruits are poured with mineral water and allowed to stand for 2 hours. Add honey to taste, throw in mint leaves. If dry grass is used, it must first be brewed, and then the decoction should be added to the lemonade. For 1.5 liters approximately 100 g of mint infusion.
- With raspberries
Raspberry lemonade is very tasty. To prepare a refreshing, nutritious, tonic drink you will need:
- Frozen lemon – 1 pc.;
- Raspberry juice – 500 ml;
- Mineral water – 500 ml;
- Sugar - to taste;
- Fresh mint – 2 sprigs.
The lemon is poured with mineral water and left to steep for several hours. Meanwhile, prepare raspberry juice. Mix the ingredients. Add sugar to taste. Pour lemon into glasses. A few raspberries are thrown onto the bottom and decorated with mint sprigs.
- With apples
You will need 1 liter of sparkling or regular spring mineral water, 500 ml of fresh apple juice, one frozen lemon, cut into slices. Place lemons in a container and fill with water. Leave to infuse for 2 hours. Pour in apple juice. If the apples are sweet, you don’t need to add sugar; if they are sour, add to taste.
- Berry-fruit
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A delicious, nutritious, fortified drink is prepared very quickly and easily. You can take any berries, fruits, or use a ready-made recipe.
- Mineral or ordinary water – 2 l.;
- Raspberry juice – 500 ml;
- Apple juice – 250 ml;
- Orange juice – 250 ml;
- Sugar - to taste;
- Lemon, frozen;
- Fresh mint - several sprigs.
Cooking begins by pouring water over the lemon. While the drink is infused, raspberry, apple, and orange juice are prepared. Mix all ingredients, add sugar. Throwing mint leaves. After 1 hour, filter the lemonade or you can pour it like this.
Beneficial properties of lemon
People who are experiencing an acute lack of free time can stock up on homemade lemonade in concentrated form. If a strong feeling of thirst occurs, this drink is simply diluted with water. The citrus fruit used to make lemonade contains:
- pectin, dietary fiber;
- acids of organic origin;
- antioxidants, calcium, iron;
- potassium, sodium, manganese, boron.
- Lemon is an excellent natural immunomodulator. This fruit and drinks based on it help maintain excellent health during a massive flu epidemic.
- Citrus helps strengthen blood vessels and increases their elasticity. The fruit contains rutin, which prevents bleeding and the development of thrombophlebitis.
- Lemon helps normalize blood sugar. The bioflavonoids present in the fruit help slow down the aging process and improve complexion.
- Lemon also contains retinol, which has a beneficial effect on the condition of the visual organs.
- The citric acid present in the fruit takes an active part in the process of burning fat. Therefore, homemade lemonade is useful for women who want to get rid of unwanted pounds./li>