Easy Homemade Lemonade

Homemade lemonade is a drink that is cheap and easy to make yet delicious to boot. It is loved by both young and not so young and tastes better than store bought lemonade. 

In my home, we usually have a jar of homemade simple syrup or zobo syrup in the fridge and with a lemon tree in the orchard, our supply of lemonade is almost seamless. This is until the lemon tree in the orchard is bare save for some tiny fruits that are just beginning to grow. So from the middle of the harmattan season until some time into the rainy season, we wait but the yield of that one tree is enormous.

The flavour of your lemonade will depend on the species of lemon you are using. The Eureka lemon and Ponderosa are available in Nigeria, with the Ponderosa being predominant. The Ponderosa is a hybrid of lemon and a citron, it is just as tangy as a lemon. 

In recent times, a lot of people are drinking lemon water which is basically lemonade minus the sweetener. Lemon juice is very high in vitamin C, potassium and folic acid. When added to warm water, it helps get the bowels going, a kind of mild laxative. It is also good for the common cold especially mixed with honey and ginger like in my ginger tea. Lemon has so many culinary and medicinal uses, though we need to be careful when consuming highly acidic fruits and drinks because they erode the teeth’s enamel. 

You can sweeten or not sweeten your homemade lemonade, totally your choice and many other fruits can be added as a garnish or to enhance the taste.

Sweeteners

Sugar*, honey, artificial sweetener, simple syrup, agave syrup etc. 

• Sugar won’t readily dissolve in cold water so it is best to dissolve in hot water before using to sweeten your homemade lemonade.
• To make simple syrup is very simple and easy, see my post on How to make Simple syrup.

Garnishes

Lemon and lime slices, mint, cherry and other fruits

Other types of Lemonade

• To make your lemonade more elegant or fancy, use Soda water (club soda) in place of water.
• To make pink lemonade, add zobo syrup or cranberry juice.
• Hard lemonade is alcohol (spirit) plus lemonade.

To make Easy Homemade Lemonade

1 cup Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 cup syrup (you can use any sweetner of choice, add to taste)
4 cups cold water
Ice cubes

Make your syrup, leave to cool. Meanwhile, squeeze your lemons.

Put lemon and syrup into a jug, add water and stir well. 

Place in the refrigerator for about 30minutes.

Put ice cubes in tall glasses and pour in your homemade lemonade, garnish with a thin slice of lemon.

Let me know how much you enjoyed your easy homemade lemonade or if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments below. Follow on Instagram: @thepretendchefofficial. Twitter: @thepretendchef