I don’t know what the weather’s been like where you live, but this summer in Denver has been one of the hottest I’ve ever experienced. I mean it’s been in the high 90’s for dam near two months straight. TWO MONTHS STRAIGHT!!! And while it’s been miserable, I have been able to survive (with my sanity still intact) thanks to the perfect summertime drink, lemonade. Now I’m not talking about that powdered crap that you mix with water, I’m talking about the real deal, made from scratch. Trust me when I say that once you’ve had true lemonade, you can’t just go back to the fake stuff. Luckily I have learned over the years, a simple ratio for making the perfect glass of lemonade, which I will be sharing with you folks today.
The magic ratio all has to do with making a lemonade concentrate. It’s easy, just 1 part sugar, 1 part water, and 1 part lemon juice. The nice thing about the ratio is that it allows you to make as large or as little of a batch of lemonade as you want, without having to do a whole bunch of math. For example, let’s say that for some odd reason, you decided to use 2 ⅙ cups of sugar, then you simply need 2 ⅙ cups of water, and 2 ⅙ cups of lemon juice. Got it, pretty simple.
Now, there is one extra step that you will need to take when making this concentrate because you can’t just add all of these ingredients in a bowl and mix them together. Instead, you will first need to make what’s called a simple syrup out of the sugar, and water. Why make simple syrup? Well, because if you don’t make a simple syrup, then the sugar won’t properly dissolve, and you will be left with a grainy texture in your lemonade. Nobody wants that. However, the process of making a simple syrup takes just a minute or two, so don’t fret about it.
Once you have the simple syrup, then all you have to do is add the lemon juice to it, and boom you have lemonade concentrate. From here you can decide to either freeze the concentrate for a later date or use it now. When you do decide to use it, you simply add cold water to the concentrate in small increments until the lemonade is as strong or light as you prefer. Trust me, It’s that easy. So if you are like me, and have been trying to combat the summer heat, then continue on to the recipe.
Classic Lemonade Recipe
Prep time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 to 2 minutes
Servings: Makes about 6 cups of lemonade
Ingredients
For the Lemonade concentrate:
1 Cup white sugar*
1 Cup water*
1 Cup Lemon Juice (which comes from about 5 to 6 lemons)*
For the final Lemonade:
More water
Ice
1 Lemon cut into slices
*The one cup is for example purposes, as I said above use whatever measurements you want just be consistent with the ratio
Instructions
- Juice Lemons: Use either an electric juicer, a lemon reamer, or simply your bare hands to juice the lemons. If you decide to use either a lemon reamer or your hands, then make sure to strain out any seeds. Save the lemon juice to be used in step 3
- Make simple syrup: Add the equal parts of water and sugar to a small saucepan and put it over medium heat.
Stir the mixture often during this time until you notice that the liquid has become completely clear and looks like this. 
This process should only take a minute or two, so keep an eye on it. Once the syrup has been made take it off the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes.
- Combine to make concentrate: Once the syrup has cooled off a bit, add the lemon juice and stir.
Congratulations, you now have lemonade concentrate! Now you can decide to either move on to the next step to make the final lemonade or decide to freeze this concentrate to be used at a later date.
- Add water and Ice: I recommend that you start off with about 2 cups of cold water for every 3 cups of concentrate. While two cups of water will most likely result in lemonade that is too strong, it’s good to remember that you can always add more water, but you can’t take any out. So start small. Stir all of this up and taste test it. If it is too strong, then add another half cup of water, stir, and taste test again. Keep adding water, stirring, and taste testing until the lemonade is your desired strength. Once it is just right you can decide to either leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours or add ice now if you are ready to enjoy. When you decided to serve the lemonade, slice up one lemon and add it to the mixture, and stir everything up again.
- Serve & enjoy
Classic Lemonade Recipe
Ingredients
For the Lemonade concentrate:
- 1 Cup white sugar*
- 1 Cup water*
- 1 Cup lemon Juice which comes from about 5 to 6 lemons*
For the final Lemonade:
- More water
- Ice
- 1 Lemon cut into slices
Instructions
- Juice Lemons: Use either an electric juicer, a lemon reamer, or simply your bare hands to juice the lemons. If you decide to use either a lemon reamer or your hands, then make sure to strain out any seeds. Save the lemon juice to be used in step 3
- Make simple syrup: Add the equal parts of water and sugar to a small saucepan and put it over medium heat. Stir the mixture often during this time until you notice that the liquid has become completely clear and looks like this. This process should only take a minute or two, so keep an eye on it. Once the syrup has been made take it off the heat and let it cool for a couple of minutes.
- Combine to make concentrate: Once the syrup has cooled off a bit, add the lemon juice and stir. Congratulations, you now have lemonade concentrate! Now you can decide to either move on to the next step to make the final lemonade or decide to freeze this concentrate to be used at a later date.
- Add water and Ice: I recommend that you start off with about 2 cups of cold water for every 3 cups of concentrate. While two cups of water will most likely result in lemonade that is too strong, it’s good to remember that you can always add more water, but you can’t take any out. So start small. Stir all of this up and taste test it. If it is too strong, then add another half cup of water, stir, and taste test again. Keep adding water, stirring, and taste testing until the lemonade is your desired strength. Once it is just right you can decide to either leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours or add ice now if you are ready to enjoy. When you decided to serve the lemonade, slice up one lemon and add it to the mixture, and stir everything up again.
Notes
Inspiration from other blogs
From Simply Recipes
