Recipes - Mint Lemonade

I'm using the word recipe really lightly here guys. This isn't an exact science and lemonade is one of those things that everyone has a different taste for.. So, these are my very loose guidelines on how to make it!

So, let me start out by saying that there are about a zillion different ways that you can fix lemonade. I've tried a few of them out and I always find that my favorites are the ones you get at county fairs that are shaken and simply involve a fresh squeezed lemon, water, and sugar. It's just a really nice lemonade that's equal parts sweet and sour and just the right consistency.. So, that's what I was trying to do with this recipe. Simple summer county fair lemonade, but with a little extra fanciness.

I have one of those 1L Weck carafes that has the sealable lid. This is great for both fridge and picnic use and I got mine for $8 from Heath Ceramics (the one at the Ferry Building) but, I'm sure you can find them even cheaper somewhere else... This is a really great thing to use for shaking your lemonade so that the sugar dissolves, but certainly - make do with what you have!

. . .



Ingredients:
- Lemons - I'd say 1 lemon per cup - I used 5 lemons for my 1L carafe - so I went a bit over .. but you can decide if you like it more mellow/more sour
- A few bunches of mint - you can use as much or as little as you prefer
- Sugar, to taste (I probably used about a cup for the 1L carafe)
- Water

What you'll need:
- Knife
- Lemon squeezer
- A deeper mortar and pestle ... or just a pestle and a bowl (the pestle is pretty important, it's going to be really hard to do your smashing without it, I've tried just using a wooden spoon and it's just not the same)
- A container with a good lid for shaking the lemonade, tupperware would do
- A sieve - this is handy for seed removal



To Make:
Rinse your mint in cold water and break it off the stems. I recommend cutting or ripping it down into smaller pieces, otherwise you're going to have a precarious drinking experience later with the large leaves. Set that aside in your mortar, or bowl.

Slice and juice lemons. Add the juice to the mint and add sugar.
Now smash it all to bits taking extra care to try and grind up that sugar into a syrup as best as you can.

Pour that into your carafe, add water until you reach about 1.5" from the top - and shake until you can no longer see sugar crystals.



That's all... I feel silly for even posting this it's so simple. But, its good and it's a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon!
You can get even fancier and add blueberries when you're smashing up the mint! Or skip the mint and just do blueberries!