With strawberries and lemons becoming plentiful in the grocery stores this time of year, I thought it might be nice to whip up a nice big pitcher of fresh homemade strawberry lemonade!
Homemade strawberry lemonade is so refreshing and it's the perfect drink to cool you down as the summer sun begins to make its appearance!
For some reason, as a kid, I didn't really like strawberries. Honestly, I don't even think I tried tasting them before setting a concrete opinion of them. I was a silly silly child, indeed!
Finally, it was on my honeymoon in 2008 when I decided I would try a strawberry and forget about my childhood pickiness. lol
I tried them and I discovered I love them!
What the heck was I thinking all those years when I refused my grandmother's strawberry shortcake???!!!!!
Well, lesson learned! That's for sure.
After discovering how much I was missing since my childhood refusal of this delightful little berry, I've been trying them in all sorts of different ways.
One of my favorite ways to use up strawberries is to make some good ol' homemade strawberry lemonade.
It's so easy to make and one of the great things about it is that you can really adjust the flavorings to suit your tastes.
Personally, I like a sweet and slightly tart version of strawberry lemonade so the recipe here will reflect that however, if you like it more tart you can try adding more lemon. If you'd like it sweeter you can add a little more sugar or even more strawberries. It's up to you!
My secret to this amazing summer drink is that I process some strawberries in a food processor then pour it into a fine mesh sieve to remove all of the seeds. I then use a rubber spatula to push the strawberries through the sieve so that all I'm left with is a nice smooth and almost creamy concentration of strawberries, with the seeds left behind.
I find that by doing this, it results in a much smoother and clear drink, which compliments the lemon very well. This also seems to intensify the strawberry flavor as well, rather than just letting slices of strawberries infuse slowly into the lemonade as some recipes call for.
Please give it a try and let me know what you think! 🙂
Homemade Strawberry Lemonade Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups lemon juice
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 1/2 cups cold water
- 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
- thinly sliced lemon wheels, for garnish if desired
- sliced strawberries, for garnish if desired
Instructions
- Combine lemon juice, water and sugar in a large pitcher.
- Using a food processor, process the strawberries until smooth.
- Pour the processed strawberries into a fine mesh sieve over a large enough measuring cup (I use a 4 cup liquid measure cup just in case!)
- Using a rubber spatula, push the strawberry liquid into the measuring cup below.
- Continue to push the strawberries through the sieve until all you are left with are the seeds and maybe a little pulp in the sieve.
- Discard the seeds from the strawberries.
- Take the liquid from the strawberries and combine it well with the lemonade mixture.
- Add sliced strawberries and thinly sliced lemon wheels to the pitcher for garnish if desired.
- You can drink this right away, but I find that it tastes even better if you let it chill in the fridge for at least and hour.
Notes
Feel free to adjust the amounts of lemon, sugar and strawberries to suit your tastes.
- Category: Beverage
