Don’t merely relegate this selfmade lemonade recipe to the youngsters’ desk—it’s tart, candy, and intensely refreshing on a scorching day. For the largest bang to your lemon buck, you’ll begin by infusing easy syrup with lemon zest. To get massive items with as little pith (the bitter white half) as potential, dry the lemons and your fingers effectively in order that your grip is agency, and use a pointy vegetable peeler. Contemporary-squeezed lemon juice is a should, so seize a juicer. To maintain the ratio of tangy-to-sweet in examine, add ice cubes straight to the glasses, not the pitcher, so the drink isn’t diluted.
Whereas this contemporary lemonade wants no elaborations, it’s additionally a flexible base for a bunch of summer season drink recipes: Whereas the syrup steeps, muddle contemporary fruit within the pitcher to make raspberry lemonade or strawberry lemonade. Watermelon? Peach? Positive, these work too. (About 2 cups of fruit per batch of lemonade ought to suffice.) In the event you desire a little bit of sparkle, swap out half the ultimate pour of chilly water for membership soda or seltzer. For a full-blown spritz, use solely the glowing water (and possibly a splash of gin). You could possibly additionally steep spices like sumac and cardamom within the syrup for one thing extra complicated or add a sprig of mint to every glass for one thing extra fragrant. And mixing the ready lemonade by half with brewed black tea rapidly turns it into an Arnold Palmer. Choose limeade? Swap out simply half the citrus, lest the drink grow to be too bitter.