Delicious Drinks: Good Old Fashioned Homemade Lemonade

It's best if I don't drink sangria all day.  Better plan to start with lemonade.  There is really no better way to quench a summer thirst than with a pitcher of good old fashioned homemade lemonade. No mixes please. Only four ingredients necessary.  And two are water and ice.  So you've got them.  You just need to take the time.

Good, Old Fashioned Homemade Lemonade

4 c. sugar

2 dozen lemons

Water

Ice

First, make a rich simple syrup by heating 4 cups of sugar with 6 cups of water in a medium saucepan and simmer until dissolved. Once the mixture is clear and cooled to the touch, transfer to the fridge and chill.  

While simple syrup is chilling, juice lemons completely and place the juice in the fridge to chill as well. When both are chilled, get started with the mixing.  

Pour the lemon juice into a large pitcher or beverage dispenser. Pour in 3/4 of the syrup, then top off the container with ice. Pour in about 8 cups of water, stir well, and taste. Add more syrup if it needs sweetness, or more water if it needs dilution, and serve immediately.  

Variations:

Almost endless!  Add 2 cups fruit (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries are all delicious) to the lemonade for different fruit flavors.  Add 1 bunch herbs (mint, basil, cilantro, or lemongrass) to the simple syrup before simmering for herbal infusion.  Infuse the syrup with spice by slicing fresh peppers (jalapeno, serrano, or fresno) and letting stand in syrup for 15 minutes, seeds and all, then straining to remove solids. Or make hard lemonade by adding 2 c. light rum or tequila to the lemonade.