A classic southern porch kinda drink, and while it’s typically a hot sweaty summer beverage, it’s good all year round. In fact, i can’t think of a better way to be getting some vitamin C than sipping a nice cold glass of this stuffs. With just the right amount of tart and sweet, the subtle musky perfume of vanilla to smooth everything out, it might be something you enjoy more by the pitcher than by the glass.
4 simple ingredients: lemons, sugar, vanilla, and water. You definitely want to use a less refined sugar here that still has some of it’s molasses intact, it elevates the flavors beyond belief, especially the vanilla. Demerara and turbinado would be my first choices (i used demerara), though i imagine this would be quite good with coconut sugar, agave nectar, or jaggery. If you don’t have any of those on hand, you could use some brown sugar+white sugar, or add a teensy bit of molasses to some white sugar. If you’re in a total bind and only have white sugar, go for it, it will still be good [but really, don’t]
*gasp* naked lemons! Naughty lemons! Sitting there without their clothes on! Overt lemons! Avert your eyes!
I couldn’t help myself, anyway….zest your lemons before juicing, avoid getting any of the white pith (which is totally bitter) and if you have fingernail polish on, good idea to use gloves (the lemon oil can really jack up those nails, and no one wants nail polish in their lemonade.) I know you may be going “duh, of course you zest them first” but i tell you, even i’ve gotten ahead of myself and started juicing before zesting and that makes zesting more of a pain than you’d think.
The secret to a truly crazy fantastic citrus drink is often the zest, it punches up the flavor without adding more zing and provides a crazy wonderful perfume to the bev. For this recipe i created a heavy syrup, removed it from the heat, and allowed it to cool (covered! don’t let those volatile oils escape!) with the zest in it to infuse. If you’re using a microplaner, you can always leave the zest in, if you’re not a pulpy person, strain it out. I like to strain it, then pour the lemon juice and water through the zest in the strainer to wash as much yumminess into the ade as i can.
That’s it! The nice part of using the syrup is not having to stir forever waiting for the stupid sugar granules to dissolve, you just pour everything into your pitcher, stir it up and serve to your favorite people [or grab the pitcher and hide in a dark corner glugging it all down, that’s fine too, you do you] it’s a wonderful accompaniment to a porch swing on a hot day, a brunch, use as a base for a cocktail, alongside your favorite southern dishes, or just whenever you wanna quench your thirst and de-parch.