How to make a lemon drink. Homemade lemon drink: recipe

Both adults and children love lemonade. In the heat, this cool drink perfectly quenches thirst, and in the cold season it lifts your spirits, reminiscent of sunny summer days. However, it has long been known that any soda is not at all beneficial for our body due to the huge content of preservatives and sugar in them, therefore, in order to avoid health problems in the future, it is better to prepare homemade lemonade without gas.

In this recipe we will make a drink from lemon and mint. Pleasant taste with unobtrusive sourness refreshes and invigorates without harm or extra calories. As for sugar, you can always vary its portion if desired.

Ingredients:

  • lemon - 1 pc. (+ a few slices for serving the drink);
  • mint - 4-5 sprigs;
  • sugar - 5 tbsp. spoons (or to taste);
  • drinking water - 1 l.

How to make a lemon drink

  1. We wash the mint with water and shake off excess moisture. We separate the leaves of the fragrant plant from the stems, finely chop them with a knife or tear them with our hands. If desired, a few mint leaves can be left whole to serve the finished drink.
  2. Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice out of each half, for example, using a juicer. The result should be approximately 4-5 tablespoons of liquid. We don’t throw away the remaining citrus peel - it will also be useful for making the drink.
  3. Place chopped mint leaves in a small saucepan and fill with drinking water. Add the lemon peel and then bring the mixture to a boil. Cook over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes, then remove the mint-lemon decoction from the stove.
  4. Immediately add sugar to the hot liquid.
  5. After cooling until warm, pass the broth through a fine sieve, getting rid of the citrus peel and mint particles.
  6. Pour lemon juice into the strained drink, and then put the almost finished lemonade in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
  7. Before serving, add a few slices of lemon and fresh mint leaves to a container of chilled homemade lemonade. If desired, you can add ice cubes to the glasses.

Sip the drink through a straw, enjoying the citrus aroma and taste!

Lemonade perfectly quenches thirst and brings freshness in the heat. The history of this drink has not been studied for certain. It is known for sure that it is old. The popularity of lemonade is explained, among other things, by its availability. The drink is easy to prepare at home. To do this, use one of the proposed recipes.

Classic drink

The technique for making lemonade from lemon at home is standard. The differences in the recipes are minimal. They mainly concern details and additional components that add new flavors to the drink. The original lemonade recipe includes only lemon, water and sugar. This composition is suitable for almost everyone, including children.

For 4 servings of classic lemonade:

  • citruses - 2 pcs. small size;
  • sugar - 100-200 g to taste;
  • boiling water - 1 tbsp. (230-250 ml);
  • drinking cold boiled water - 1 l;
  • ice - optional (up to 20 cubes).

Preparation procedure:

  1. Wash and cut the lemons into thin slices.
  2. Place on a plate and sprinkle with sugar. Stir. Cover and leave for a couple of hours.
  3. Pour boiling water into the container with citrus fruits. Wait for it to cool down.
  4. Drain the liquid through cheesecloth into a carafe. Add cold water.
  5. Pour lemonade into glasses. Throw in ice cubes if needed.

Recipe with mint

Peppermint lemonade is the perfect drink for a summer afternoon. Natural leaves leave a pleasant chill in the mouth. A 2.5 liter soft drink requires a couple of sour citrus fruits. Other Lemonade Ingredients:

  • fresh peppermint - 6 sprigs;
  • water - 2.5 l;
  • sugar - 125 g.

Cooking method at home:

  1. As in the previous recipe, there is no need to peel the fruits - just wash them. Then cut them in half and squeeze out the juice.
  2. Throw the remaining peel into the pan. Add mint leaves there. It is better to pick them off by hand rather than trim them.
  3. Fill the pan with water. Put on fire and hold for 3 minutes. after boiling.
  4. Before turning off the oven, add sugar to the water and stir the contents. Let the broth cool.
  5. After cooling, pour the juice into the future lemonade and mix again.

Advice. A few mint leaves can be left and added to the finished lemonade and poured into glasses. It's more refreshing with ice.

Turkish lemonade is also prepared with mint. A drink rich in vitamin C is appropriate not only in summer, but also during the cold season. Amount of ingredients per 5 l:

  • lemon fruits - 7 pcs.;
  • sugar - 0.5-0.7 kg to taste;
  • mint - 3-4 sprigs.

Cooking at home:

  1. Cut a clean lemon into small slices directly with the zest. Place in a blender bowl. Add half the sugar and grind into a paste.
  2. Pour the mixture into a convenient container. Fill with water.
  3. Add the remaining sugar and stir. It dissolves slowly in cold water, so do not overdo it and constantly taste the sweetness. Hot water cannot be used in this recipe - it will absorb bitterness from the zest.
  4. Place the lemonade in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, strain and serve for breakfast.

Recipe for ginger drink with honey

Ginger in any form is a storehouse of microelements beneficial to humans. It tones the body, eliminates the initial symptoms of acute respiratory infections, and strengthens the immune system. Combined with lemon you get an excellent energy drink. In winter, lemonade warms you up (even when cold), and in summer it quenches your thirst.

Ingredients:

  • cold drinking water - 3 l;
  • ginger root - 1 pc. (200 g);
  • citrus fruits - 2 pcs.;
  • sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
  • honey - 4 tbsp. l.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Peel the root. Rub with fine shavings.
  2. Place the chopped ginger in a saucepan and cover with water.
  3. Wash the lemons. Squeeze the juice out of them into another container. Chop the peels with a knife and throw them into the pan with the ginger. Pour sugar in there.
  4. Boil, keep on fire for another 2 minutes, strain and leave to cool. Add honey and juice to the already cooled lemonade.
  5. Dilute the concentrated decoction with the remaining 2 liters of water.

Advice. Lemonade according to this recipe turns out quite sweet. Navigate according to your taste. The proportion of sugar and honey can be reduced.

Drink with orange

This lemonade recipe allows you to make a cool fruit cocktail at home. The acidity of the lemon is partially compensated by the orange. And strawberries diversify the taste.

Required products:

  • lemon - 1 pc.;
  • oranges - 3 pcs.;
  • strawberries – 0.1 kg;
  • water – 1 l;
  • sugar – 0.2 kg.

Procedure for preparing lemonade:

  1. Squeeze the juice from the lemon. Save the peel.
  2. Peel the oranges. This is what you need, not the pulp. Place lemon and orange peels in a saucepan, add granulated sugar and stir.
  3. Pour water over the zest and put on fire. After boiling, wait another 2 minutes.
  4. Remove the pan from the stove and leave to cool at room temperature.
  5. Filter the syrup. Add juice and whole strawberries to it.
  6. Place the lemonade in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

The drink is ready. All that remains is to pour it and cool it with ice. Recipes need testing. Experiment, prepare different types of drinks to choose the one you like the most.

Preparing soft drinks at home is considered a good seasonal tradition in many families. Housewives make juices, smoothies, and cocktails from various fruits, but the most popular type of refreshing drink is still homemade lemonade.

Its pleasant sour taste, emphasized by the freshness of the ice cubes, tones the body on a hot day, giving it vigor and energy.

Lemons are exactly the products from which lemonade is traditionally made. According to many original technologies, housewives add spicy herbs, exotic fruits, etc. to the drink. But classic lemonade is a drink made exclusively from lemons, sugar and water.

It is much easier to prepare, because the classic cooking process, including the food preparation stage, takes only 15 minutes.

Ingredients

  • Lemons – 6 pcs. medium size.
  • Water (cold) – 6 tbsp.
  • Citric acid – 1 tbsp.
  • Sugar – 1 tbsp.

Preparation

  1. Wash fresh lemons in water and dry them with a paper towel.
  2. Cut the citrus fruits into halves and squeeze the juice out of each one in turn.
  3. Pour cold water into a 4-liter jug, dilute it with sugar and citric acid.
  4. Mix everything, add a little more water to the jug and cool the drink (you can do this with ice, or you can simply put the lemonade in the refrigerator for a while).
  5. Serve lemon juice in transparent glasses with a straw. You can decorate the glasses with the same piece of lemon, or you can be original by attaching a lime, orange, etc. to the edge. The main thing is that these fruits are combined with the taste of lemon.

Home cooking secrets

  • The number of ingredients can be changed at your discretion. Depending on the planned volume and taste preferences, the ratio of lemons, water and sugar can be adjusted, even despite the proportions indicated in the recipe.
  • If children will not drink your drink, then add a little lemon or even orange liqueur to the lemonade.
  • To change the color of the lemon drink, you can, if desired, add a little berry or fruit juice to it, but always natural and freshly squeezed.
  • The finished homemade drink should be stored in a sealed container and only in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • — 1 pc. + -
  • — 1.5 l. + -
  • - 4-5 tbsp. l. + -

Preparation

Not only fresh citrus fruits can be used to prepare the drink, but also fresh frozen ones.

Fruits from the refrigerator have a completely different taste, besides, lemon skins “in the cold” lose their bitterness and acquire a richer aroma.

You will learn how to make lemonade from frozen lemons at home in our recipe.

Preparing food for freezing

  • Wash the lemons in water.
  • Dry them with a paper towel.
  • Cut the unpeeled citrus fruits into half rings.
  • We put the slices in a bag and put them in the freezer for a while.

  1. Pour the frozen lemons into a jug, decanter or any other container in which the drink will be prepared.
  2. Pour boiling water over the citrus fruits, but reserve some hot water for preparing the syrup.
  3. Dilute the remaining water with sugar, after which the syrup is poured into a bowl with lemonade.
  4. Cover the drink with a saucer and let it brew for a couple of hours.
  5. Serve homemade lemonade chilled, after adding ice.
  6. We decorate the glasses with the drink with pieces of fruit; you can add a sprig of tarragon or basil to the lemonade, if desired.

Secrets of a successful drink

Lemonade made from lemons must contain only natural ingredients. Therefore, whenever possible, replace the sugar in lemon syrup with fresh honey. The amount of honey is taken from the calculation of the total amount of water, i.e. it is calculated in the same way as sugar.

According to our recipe, lemons are cut into pieces before freezing. But you can do something different with fruits: just wash the citrus fruits, dry them with a towel and put them whole in the freezer. And when they are already frozen, then start chopping - grate them.

To quickly refresh lemonade, you can use a shaker in the preparation process - a device for mixing ice and ready-made lemonade.

The device is easy to use:

  • Place ice cubes and lemonade in a shaker;
  • shake the device along with its contents;
  • Pour the resulting soft drink into a glass or goblet and serve.

This procedure will not spoil the taste of the finished lemonade. The ice that gets into the shaker will not dilute the drink, it will just cool it.

If you decide to make lemonade not using classical technology, then feel free to add whatever you want to the drink. The most popular way to change the taste of lemonade is to add fresh mint to it. Its refreshing aroma gives freshly squeezed lemon juice even more freshness and a piquant taste.

We invite you to familiarize yourself in more detail with a simple recipe for making lemonade at home with fragrant mint.

Ingredients

  • Lemons (medium size) – 5 pcs.;
  • Sugar (or honey) - to taste;
  • Mint – 3-4 sprigs (but more is possible);
  • Water (filtered) – 5 glasses of 250 ml each.

Preparation

  1. Pour boiling water over the lemons, then dry them and remove the zest. It is advisable to cut the skin into thin strips using a knife or vegetable peeler.
  2. Squeeze the juice out of citrus fruits (manually, using a blender, juicer or meat grinder, i.e., whatever is convenient for you).
  3. Stir sugar (or honey) in hot water until completely dissolved, and thus obtain syrup for homemade lemonade.
  4. Finely chop the mint leaves and then grind them in a mortar. After crushing, you should get a mint paste with a rich, fresh aroma.
  5. Transfer the crushed mint into a large bowl, add freshly squeezed lemon juice to it and fill it all with warm sugar syrup.
  6. Stir the lemonade thoroughly and leave it to cool for a while in a room where the optimum temperature is maintained. There is no need to put it in the refrigerator, and especially in the freezer. We will put the remaining drink in such a cold place only for storage.
  7. After the lemonade has cooled, if necessary, we can add lemon juice or honey (sugar).
  8. Serve a drink of 5 lemons in glasses or transparent glasses with a straw. Garnish the servings with a slice of lime, a sprig of mint, and add ice to refresh them.

The above recipe, according to which you will prepare a drink with citrus and mint at home, has another type of preparation. It is much simpler than the previous one. All you need to do is mix sugar, chopped mint, lemon juice and boiled water in a blender until smooth.

  1. If you didn’t calculate the volume and prepared too much lemon drink, you don’t have to pour out the excess. Since the drink cannot be stored for a long time even in the refrigerator, it is better to immediately use part of it for other purposes, for example, making ice cream from lemonade.
  2. You can make a lemon mint drink using any number of lemons. Even for a small volume, it is not necessary to take the minimum amount of citrus fruits (1-2 lemons), no one will forbid you to take 4-5 pieces. Everything will depend on your taste preferences.
  3. If you like sour drinks, then add as much sour lemon juice as you see fit. If you suddenly overdo it a little, you can always correct the situation with sugar, honey or any other sweet fruit juice.

Homemade lemonade is the best way to quench your thirst with health benefits. Prepared at home, with your own hands, and only from natural ingredients, the drink is recommended for consumption by adults and children.

The time and effort spent on its production will always meet your expectations; it’s not for nothing that cool lemonade is so popular in the summer. Prepare a refreshing drink for your health, and don’t let hot days scare you anymore.

Now for your attention - a video of a detailed master class on making the simplest lemon lemonade.

Lemonade with honey at home (video)

Homemade lemon drink recipe

Our selection opens with a classic recipe with a minimum of ingredients. These are, in fact, sour citrus fruits themselves, water and sugar. If desired, sugar can be replaced with honey or another healthy sweetener. Or add a little sparkling water if you want something fizzy.

Let's tinker a little with the syrup. But it is this process that will later give the drink aroma and fullness of taste.

We need:

  • Lemons - 4 pieces;
  • Granulated sugar - 150 gr.;
  • Drinking water - 1 liter.

Preparation:

1. Remove the zest from one lemon. To do this, grate its yellow skin on a coarse grater. Pour it into a fireproof ladle.

2. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top. Add 200 ml of fresh water and put on fire. As soon as it boils, immediately reduce the heat and cook for 5-7 minutes. In general, until the sugar dissolves.

3. The syrup will be saturated with the aromas of the zest. And remove it from the heat and let it cool well.

4. Then filter through a sieve into a separate container. The wringer can be thrown away. We won't need them anymore.

5. Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons.

One trick: to squeeze more liquid out of fruits, you need to roll them with your palm on any hard surface. This way you are guaranteed to get more fresh juice from all citrus fruits. I don’t know why. Maybe you know and write below in the comments?

6. We also filter it through a strainer so that we don’t get bitter citrus seeds later.

7. If you get less than 200 ml of lemon juice, then you need to take more fruit and squeeze to the required amount.

8. Now we combine all the components, pouring them into a jug. Add water and stir well. This is where you can add sparkling water if desired. But I'm adding the usual one.

9. Lemonade can be well chilled or served immediately in glasses with ice and straws. Lemon slices are perfect for decoration.

Simple version with peppermint

I just love this mint recipe. Firstly, it cooks very quickly. And secondly, it is very refreshing in the hottest weather. Well, he takes care of the figurine. You can sit on this lemonade all day long and not want any other food.

We need:

  • Lemons - 2 pieces;
  • Cool drinking water - 2 liters;
  • Honey - to taste;
  • Mint - a bunch.

Preparation:

1. Remove the skin from citrus fruits. To do this, you can trim the lemons on both sides. Then cut the skin of each lemon into several parts along its segments. Carefully remove the skin itself.

2. Then cut the lemons into rings. We take out all the bones. They can be bitter in the drink and are also harmful to the body.

3. Place the cut rings in a clean jar or jug ​​with a wide neck.

4. Add honey and a few mint leaves there. Mash all ingredients well with a wooden spatula.

5. Pour the mint-lemon mixture with cold drinking water. I usually take water from a spring. Fortunately, there is such a source not far from our dacha. Therefore, with such water, lemonade turns out tastier!

6. Mix with a spatula and pour into glasses. Add ice cubes of your choice and mint leaves for decoration.

You can also strain the drink before serving. But sometimes it’s so good to use it together with lemon pulp or even a mint leaf!

Bon appetit and let's make the next gingerbread dish.

How to make lemonade with ginger?

Ginger drink is prepared based on syrup with the root. Keep in mind that a healthy vitamin dish is not suitable for everyone. It should be given to allergy sufferers and children with caution. But, if there are no special contraindications, then cook it at least every day!

And here I suggest watching a short video with the recipe. After all, hearing a hundred times is better than seeing a day, isn’t it?

Healthy recipe with lemon and oranges

An equally popular lemonade is made with oranges. The result is a dish somewhat reminiscent of the famous Fanta if we add sparkling water. But much, much more useful. And don’t be scared by the large volume - 9 liters. If desired, you can simply halve the amount of products.

We need:

  • Lemons - 1 piece;
  • Cool drinking water - 9 liters;
  • Sugar - 800 grams;
  • Oranges - 4 pieces.

Preparation:

1. We will use citruses with peel. Therefore, we will carry out several manipulations to remove the bitterness from it.

2. First, soak the fruits in boiling water for literally 1-2 minutes.

3. Then we cool them and put them in a bag in the freezer. Let them lie down for 9-10 hours. This will completely kill all the bitter taste of the citrus peels.

4. Take out a bag of fruit. Soak them in hot water for a while and cut them into small pieces.

5. We pass these still frozen pieces through a meat grinder into a saucepan.

A meat grinder can easily be replaced by a powerful blender. It will just as easily turn fruit into puree.

They are hard and therefore easy to grind into a yellow-orange pulp.

6. Fill the puree with three liters of water. Stir a little with a spoon and leave for 15-20 minutes until the water becomes citrusy.

8. Pour granulated sugar with two liters of warm water. Stir to form a syrup.

9. Combine syrup and fruit water in a large 10-liter jar. Add the remaining 4 liters of water and mix the mass, combining all the components.

This is where Fanta lovers can replace plain water with sparkling water. Make a delicious citrus fizz!

This lemonade can be enjoyed immediately with ice. Or you need to cool it in the refrigerator for a while and then drink it.

This concludes my short selection. Of course, these are not all the options for making lemonade. Soon we will look at some more interesting and tasty drink recipes with different ingredients.

Like homemade compotes, lemonades are very popular, especially in the summer, since they can be prepared very easily and quickly at home, requiring a minimum of ingredients. In this review, we’ll look at the most delicious homemade lemon drink recipes that anyone can easily make in just a few minutes.

Classic homemade lemonade (lemon and mint drink)

According to the classic recipe, homemade lemonade includes the following ingredients:

  • Lemon – 1 pc. (if large or 2 small);
  • Water – 1 liter;
  • Sugar – 3-5 tablespoons (depending on how sweet your lemonade is);
  • Mint – 3-4 sprigs.

There are several ways to make classic lemonade, but let’s look at the simplest and most “healthy” one:

  • Prepare all the ingredients, thoroughly wash the lemon and mint in cold water.
  • Place a saucepan of water over medium heat and bring to a boil, then add sugar and, stirring, dissolve it in boiling water. Set the pan aside from the heat and wait until the water begins to cool (in boiling water, lemon and mint will lose most of their beneficial vitamins and microelements).
  • Cut the lemon in half and squeeze out the juice, which according to the recipe we will add to the lemonade at the end of preparation.
  • We manually open the washed mint leaves from the stem and cut them into small pieces with a knife.
  • Place squeezed lemon halves and chopped mint into hot water with sugar, cover the pan with a lid and let the lemonade brew (until the water has cooled completely). Filter the cooled lemonade through cheesecloth or a fine sieve so that there are no pieces of lemon or mint left in it.
  • Finally, add the lemon juice squeezed at the beginning of preparation to the lemonade, mix the ingredients thoroughly, after which the drink can be cooled in the refrigerator or served with ice to the table, while a few slices of fresh, unsqueezed lemon and a few whole mint leaves (for beauty) can be added to the jug ).
  • That's it! A delicious summer drink made from lemon and mint is ready!

Note: when preparing lemonade, you can use lime instead of lemon, but the drink itself turns out just as tasty and aromatic and does not taste much different (the taste depends on the additional ingredients).

To make lemonade even more healthy and aromatic, the sugar in it can be replaced with natural honey (in a 1:1 ratio), the main thing is to add it to the lemon drink at the end of preparation along with lemon juice in order to preserve all the beneficial properties of fresh honey.

Delicious and healthy drink made from lemons and oranges

Lemonade is no less tasty and more aromatic if you use not only lemons, but also oranges when preparing it. To make citrus lemonade with oranges you will need:

  • 3 liters of water;
  • 2-3 oranges;
  • 2 lemons;
  • 4 tablespoons sugar;
  • 6-8 sprigs of fresh mint.

The process of preparing a refreshing drink or lemons and oranges is almost the same as classic lemonade:

  • Wash fruits and mint thoroughly in cold water.
  • Cut lemons and oranges in half and squeeze the juice out of them into one container.
  • We tear mint leaves from the stem and cut into large pieces.
  • Place the squeezed halves of lemons and oranges, as well as chopped mint, into a saucepan of a suitable size and bring to a boil over medium heat, then remove the pan from the heat and add sugar (do not forget to mix the lemonade thoroughly so that the sugar is completely dissolved).
  • Covering the pan with a lid, wait until the lemonade has cooled completely and all the ingredients have been infused in it.
  • Filter the cooled lemonade through a fine sieve or cheesecloth, then add the squeezed juice of lemons and oranges.
  • Delicious citrus lemonade is ready! It can be pre-cooled in the refrigerator or served immediately, adding a few slices of lemon and orange, as well as a few fresh mint leaves, for beauty.

What to pay attention to when making a delicious lemon drink at home

  • If you first squeeze the juice out of lemons and add it at the end of making lemonade, the drink will be more healthy.
  • If the lemonade is made from lemon and honey, then honey is added only at the very end of preparation, when the drink itself is already cold or barely warm, since at high temperatures honey loses its beneficial properties.
  • Before cooking, it is important to thoroughly wash whole lemons and, if possible, rinse them with boiling water, since the surface of their peel can be covered with wax (so that they do not deteriorate when sold and retain their appearance longer) or treated with other substances.
  • If you do not use sugar when preparing lemonade, then this lemon drink will be dietary and, for example, in combination with ginger, can be used in diets as a tasty, light and healthy drink.
  • There are recipes for homemade lemonade using citric acid instead of lemon, but you should immediately understand that such lemonade will not be as tasty, or especially healthy, as a drink made from real lemon.

In conclusion to the article, it can be noted that making lemonade at home is very simple and there are many other recipes (not listed in this review) that, in addition to lemons, use other fruits and various herbs to change the aroma and taste of the drink. We leave our reviews and useful tips on how to prepare a homemade lemon drink for yourself and your loved ones in the comments to this article and share it on social networks if it was useful to you.