[LefseRae]

So, I was Scroogling for the lyrics to Chris Rice's Lemonade, and I came across this page with this recipie. It sounds scrumptious! ( Any tips on good lemonade?

Originally Posted by Elsa @ metafilter

As jamaro says, the pith (white part of the peel under the yellow zest) is terribly bitter.

The zest itself, though, is the difference between pretty good lemonade and the tangy, fragrant lemonade you deserve. The zest is full of delicious citrus oil.

I slice the zest from the lemons before slicing or squeezing them. I use a sharp knife, since it's easier to control that a vegetable peeler. Then with the edge of the knife, trim off any residual patches of pith from the zest. Now you have all the rich gorgeous lemon flavor without any of the vile pith.

If you want to use plain ole sugar & water, you can make a nice lemonade by mashing the sugar and lemon zest together, sure, but it'll be a bit grainy.

So easy. Put 1 part sugar in a saucepan. On top, dump 1 part water. Don't stir. Mark a cross in it with your finger or a wooden spoon; this lets the water permeate the sugar a bit. Put over medium-high heat; boil (not a raging boil, and do not stir) about five minutes. This dissolves the sugar crystals into the syrup, and they'll stir right into the water and juice to make a smooth lemonade.

Here's a trick I like: when the simple syrup has cooled a bit, toss in the strips of lemon zest. The heat releases the oils into the syrup, and when you add the lemon juice and water, your lemonade will be like a glass full of summer.

(Psst: if you make extra simple syrup with lemon, you can keep it in a jar in the fridge. I keep mine in an old honey container with a flip-top, so it's easy to squeeze out into a glass. Try this: in a tall glass, squirt a bit of lemon syrup, a splash of voka or gin, and fill the rest of the glass with seltzer or club soda. Mmmmmm. Refreshing.)

[SecretAgentRat]

My best friend went on the fast for a long time....Didn't help her an ounce. However, she was on it for health reasons and it turns out that what they thought were the problems weren't and that something els was.

I like Mike's Hard Lemonade. It's the only Lemonade I drink because I don't really like Lemonade at all.

[LefseRae]

If you don't like lemonade, then why'd you post?

[SecretAgentRat]

Originally Posted by Godslilrosebud

If you don't like lemonade, then why'd you post?

Because I was contributing to other bits of the conversation.

[H.M. Murdock]

Taking out the pith is good, but lemonade is difficult to keep tasty at all. The acids don't like the sugars, the sugars don't like the tannins, and combined they just don't like their neighbor water at all. That's why fake lemonade tastes so... fake; you have to load it down with preservatives to prevent the drink from tearing itself apart.

[MtlMom]

Originally Posted by H.M. Murdock

Taking out the pith is good, but lemonade is difficult to keep tasty at all. The acids don't like the sugars, the sugars don't like the tannins, and combined they just don't like their neighbor water at all. That's why fake lemonade tastes so... fake; you have to load it down with preservatives to prevent the drink from tearing itself apart.

Okay, Alton. Please differentiate between the chemical make up of orange juice and lemonade.

I didn't think lemons contained tannins. Oranges might. I could be totally wrong on that.

I agree with adding lemon zest to the simple sugar as the base for the lemonade.

[RainCatcher]

I love lemonade..

Just my input.

That's all.