Top Notch Lemonade: Fast and Easy

Quick: You want a glass of lemonade, but you don’t want to make a whole batch, and you especially don’t want to put on pants to go out and buy six more lemons to do so. Never fear, because if you have a passable home bar setup and a couple leftover lemons from Tom Collins night last night, you have a cool glass of quality lemonade already sitting on the counter. Some assembly required.

Recipe

Hardware:

1. Citrus juicer

2. Cocktail shaker

3. Vegetable peeler or paring knife

4. Shot glass or 1 ounce jigger

5. Pint glass

Software:

1. 1-2 Good sized lemons

2. 2 ounces of 2:1 simple syrup

3. 1 cup cold water

4. Ice (enough to shake with, and enough to use in the final drink)

Procedure:

1. Strip all the zest from your lemons with your peeler or paring knife and deposit it in your shaker

2. Juice your lemons for all they are worth. Make sure to get as much out of them as you can, and add the juice to the shaker

3. Add in 2 ounces of 2:1 simple syrup

4. Add ice to your shaker, and shake vigorously until the tin is cold to the touch

5. Add 1 cup (8 ounces) of cold water, and shake gently, just enough to combine

6. Put some fresh ice into your chosen vessel, and strain the contents of the shaker into your glass

The recipe above is a great way to get a fast and simple glass of lemonade for almost no effort. I was struck by a craving for something refreshing, but in classic fashion I could absolutely not be bothered to spend the time, money, or effort to make a full batch to keep in the fridge. I noticed that I still had a lemon and a half left over that I had bought for cocktails, and decided that would be enough. Lemonade is a very simple affair after all, and I already had all the other tools and ingredients ready to go. You can absolutely use 1:1 simple syrup if that’s what you have on hand, but I like my drinks sweet, so I made 2:1, and 2 ounces was perfect for about 8-10 ounces of lemonade. The beautiful thing about recipes on the internet is that everything is a suggestion, and you can change these measurements however you want to suit your taste, with no judgement! With that being said, if you don’t add the lemon zest to the shaker you are committing a vile act and I will find you. When you shake the drink with the zest, the ice will beat the lemon oils out, and emulsify them with the rest of your ingredients. This is an extremely fast and easy way to crank up the lemonyness (Lemonocity? Lemonitude?) of your drink, and you’d be insane not to. I had a half of a lemon left over from making drinks on the previous night, so I used one and a half lemons to make my glass of lemonade. You may wish to use more or less depending on the size of your lemons, efficiency of your juicer, and so on. You can also make orangeade or limeade in a similar fashion by subbing the 1.5 lemons for 1 orange or 3 limes. If you want to make pink lemonade, combine the juice of one lemon with the juice of half of a blood orange.