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Homemade Lemonade is one of the most enjoyable summer drinks that can be found anywhere around the world, all characterized by lemon flavor.
Most lemonade varieties can be separated into two distinct types as Cloudy and Clear, each is known simply as “Lemonade” (or a cognate) its a traditionally homemade drink made with lemon juice, water, and sweeteners such as cane sugar or honey.
Lemonade has been promoted as healthful, due to its high concentration of Vitamin C. However, the drink’s health benefits will be highly limited in many diets due to its very high sugar content.
Brief History of Lemonade
This beverage was invented in Paris around 1630. Despite its origin traced to Paris, the kind in Europe today is completely different – it’s carbonated, which means it’s a sweet lemon-flavored carbonated soft drink.
It is named “lemonade” rather than “lemon juice,” as is the case with “orange juice,” because it is made up of lemon juice, sugar, and water. Orangeade is made by mixing orange juice and apple juice with water and sugar. Do you get it?
It takes on the qualities of a fizzy, carbonated drink outside of the United States. In many regions of the world, sodas such as Sprite or 7-UP are considered lemonade (although technically, they are lemon and lime drinks.) Concentrated lemon solutions can also be used to make this beverage.
Difference Between Lemon Juice and Lemonade
Lemon juice is just the juice extracted from a lemon. It has a strong sour flavor. Water, sugar, and lemon juice are used to make lemonade.
This means that while lemon juice from lemons is the base element for making the lemonade, it is only a derived product from lemon juice and it is achieved by adding sugar and water to the juice.
Health Benefits of Lemonade
This homemade lemonade certainly contains a lot of sugar, but several benefits can be derived by taking it:
It is a source of Vitamin C: Our body needs vitamins to stay nourished and hydrated. All bodily tissues require vitamin C, commonly known as ascorbic acid, for growth, development, and repair.
It’s engaged in a variety of body activities, including collagen creation, iron absorption, immune system function, wound healing, cartilage, bone, and tooth maintenance. A dose of lemonade contains enough Vitamin C to meet your daily needs.
It’s an energy booster: There are several energy-boosting elements and activities, lemonade is one. Apart from its benefits including providing us with our daily dose of Vitamin C and its antioxidizing properties, it provides our bodies with enough sugar for energy-boosting.
The sugars which our bodies can employ as fuel to meet their daily requirements can be derived from lemonades. Taking lemonade is a terrific way to stay motivated and maintain a healthy blood sugar level, especially if you’ve been exercising.
There are downsides to consuming a lot of sugar anyway. As an alternative, you may want to explore other energy-boosting options.
Is Homemade Lemonade Healthy?
Since lemonade is made from freshly squeezed lemons, it’s got to be healthy and good for you, right? Well, yes and no.
Lemon juice is full of minerals and vitamins, especially vitamin C, which helps strengthen your immune system. It also helps digestion and mineral absorption and aids weight loss.
While drinking homemade lemonade has many benefits, store-bought lemonade often has a VERY high amount of sugar which makes it as bad for you as any other sugar-filled drink.
The good news is, when making lemonade at home, you have more control over the ingredients and can easily make lemonade a healthy drink to enjoy.
Let’s be honest here, really, the only not-so-healthy component of lemonade is the sugar. Luckily, you can easily make lemonade healthier by swapping sugar with healthier, natural sweeteners.
Tips On How to Make the Best Lemonade
One of the beauties of making your lemonade at home is not only that it is super easy, but you’ll be able to customize your lemonade, and here are some best tips for how to make the best lemonade.
- Use fresh lemon juice – avoid buying pre squeezed lemon juice. It just won’t taste the same.
- Use good quality ingredients – fresh, vibrant lemons, raw honey, and good quality water will all help to make your lemonade taste great.
- Don’t just add all the sweeteners – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Make sure to taste test the lemonade mixture to see how much honey water you’ll need to add to get it to suit your taste buds.
- Keep or remove the pulp – if you don’t like pulp, you can strain the lemonade through a fine-mesh sieve to easily remove the pulp.
- Make sure to refrigerate – after you mix everything, your lemonade needs a little time to chill in the fridge
- To get those flavors to jive together and make the most flavorful lemonade.
- Add more flavors – try using one of the added fruits to your lemonade to make a whole new delicious flavor of lemonade.
- Consider making a little extra to turn into ice cubes for later so your ice doesn’t “water down” your lemonade.
How Long Does Homemade Lemonade Last?
Homemade lemonade is best served fresh and chilled, but it’s also a super easy recipe to make ahead for the week.
Generally speaking, homemade lemonade will last in your fridge for up to 7-8 days. The longer it sits in your fridge, however, the more strong the flavor will become.
How To Make Lemonade Sugar-Free
Our main goal to make lemonade healthier is to replace the highly refined granulated which will spike your blood sugar levels through the roof and then leave you with a sugar crash.
Here are some healthier non-sugar options for how to sweeten your lemonade without sugar:
Coconut Palm Sugar – this sugar is sapped from the coconut palm which is heated and evaporated which reduces it to granules.
Coconut sugar is nutritious and has a low score on the glycemic index (which essentially means it doesn’t tax your body and make you crash after giving you a sugar rush). Coconut sugar tastes similar to brown sugar but slightly richer.
Raw Honey – is simply honey that has not been filtered or pasteurized so it includes beeswax, royal jelly, bee pollen, and propolis (a substance collected by honeybees from tree buds, used to fill crevices and seal honeycombs.).
Raw honey is pretty awesome. It’s used by many cultures as a remedy for ailments, including ulcers, digestion problems, and as an antibiotic. Raw honey contains antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and enzymes.
Make sure to look for raw in the name, as processed honey has no such health benefits.
Each of these non-sugar clean sweetener alternatives would work well in your lemonade to sweeten, but my favorite is raw honey because the sweetness is so rich and it doesn’t impair the color as much as the others. For more info on sugar, check this post on Uses Of Sugar That Will Blow Your Mind!
Alright, let’s get to the homemade lemonade recipes!
Other Healthy Drinks To Try
- Apple juice
- Tamarind Juice
- Orange juice
- Cucumber juice
Homemade Lemonade
Ingredients
- Sugar
- Lemon Juice
- Water
- Raisins
Instructions
- Make a simple syrup by dissolving the sugar in warm water so that its dispersed evenly instead of sinking in the bottom.
- Extract the juice from the lemons.
- Pour the juice and sugar water into a jug throw in the raisins and leave for awhile (overnight if possible) to allow them to start fermenting and give it a fizz.
- Before serving add about two cups of cold water and bag of ice to the jug. If the lemonade is still a bit sweet for anyone's taste, chuck a slice or two of lemon into the glass.
