Best Lemonade

Two chalice glasses of lemonade sitting on a marble countertop from How To Make Lemonade recipe.

How to make the Best Lemonade that tastes like seductive limoncello but without the alcohol. With a kiss of fresh mint, this lemonade recipe is not overly tart and is immensely refreshing. Pure bliss for lemon lovers on a hot summer's day.

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Keyword Old Fashioned Lemonade, State Fair Lemonade

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Total Time 14

Servings servings

Calories 144kcal

Author Heather

Ingredients

6 large lemons *see Note #1 below
1 sprig fresh mint *see Note #2 below
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
5 cups water

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Instructions

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the lemon peel leaving as much of the pith (white spongy part of the peel) behind. See Note #3 below.
Place the lemon peel strips into a bowl and set the whole lemons aside to use later. See Note #4 below.
Add mint and sugar to the lemon peels. Stir well.
Cover and let the lemon peels sit with the sugar for at least 12 hours. See Note #5 below.
After the 12 hours transfer the lemon peel mixture to a saucepan and cover with 2 cups of fresh cool water. Place the pan over medium/high heat and cook just until the sugar is dissolved. See Note #6 below.
Strain the lemon peel mixture using a fine mesh colander to remove the peel and mint. Let sit to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Squeeze the peeled lemons and add the juice to the lemon mixture in addittion to 3 more cups of cool water.
Cover and let chill. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint.

Notes

Recipe Notes

Note #1- Homegrown lemons are amazing for this lemonade. If using store bought lemons, often they have been sprayed with a thin layer of wax. To remove the wax follow either option below.

Place lemons in a large heat safe bowl. Heat about 6 cups of water almost to simmering. Pour hot water over lemons and let sit for 5 minutes. Scrub each lemon under cold water using a clean sponge or vegetable brush.
Place lemons in a colander. Bring approximately 6 cups of water to a boil. Slowly pour boiling water over lemons. Using a clean sponge or vegetable brush, scrub each lemon under cold water.

Note #2- For this recipe I used 1 large sprig of fresh mint. The amount of mint can be adjusted based on personal preference. In other words, if you love mint add as much as desired.

Note #3- The xoxo vegetable peeler makes for easy removal of the zest in decent size strips while leaving the bitter pith behind.

When peeling, it's fine if there is a little bit of white attached to the zest. It is impossible to have zero white pith. The objective is to have as little of the pith as possible.

Note #4- In the preparation of this lemonade I used a 8 cup glass measuring cup for each step up until I transferred the lemonade to a fancier pitcher.

Note #5- The sugar will pull the oils out of the lemon peel and mint, giving this lemonade the quality that is similar to limoncello.

Note #6- DO NOT boil at this point. The purpose of heating is just to dissolve the sugar,.

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