Sometimes, my Pop gets it in his head that something has to be done and you have to do it right away. A few weeks ago, he got it in his head that the lemon tree in his yard was overburdened with lemons. So he insisted we pick them all and take them home. Seriously. He did. My parents live in Ventura County and if you didn't know this, Ventura is known for it's citrus. Bam! Look at these suckers! They are so ridiculously juicy. I don't think they are Meyer lemons, but they could be because they are sweet while still sour. Or they could just be amazing Ventura lemons. If you work with me, then you've received some of these suckers. One lemon goes a looooong way.
I happened to make these suckers today:
It's such a nice day today and I thought lemonade would go really nicely with my bacon and leek quiche (you can find the recipe here). The Indian LOVES lemonade too and since I had about 10 pounds of lemons from my pop's yard, here we go!
All you need is love....well, and bacon.
Just kidding. But not really.
All you really need for this is:
1 cup of sugar
as many lemons as you need to get 1 cup of lemon juice
water
THAT'S IT!!!
So I like to use this kind of sugar:
I like it because it's unrefined. Just like me! HAHAHA.
But you can use any kind of sugar you want.
You could just dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water....But that takes FOREVER. So just make a quick simple sugar syrup by heating 1 cup of water on your stove until it's boiling and then mixing in 1 cup of sugar.
Stir it around, remove from heat. Boom! Simple sugar syrup.
Mine is this brownish color because I used unrefined sugar. If you used refined, white sugar then your simple syrup will be clear. Did ya notice that with one cup of water and one cup of sugar, you end up with MORE than one cup of simple syrup? Yeah. Science. Pretty cool stuff.
I use this jug that I got from AmazonSmile. I support University Camps (UCLA UniCamp. Learn more about them here)...Shop AND make a difference? Pshhh. No brainer.
Here's the side view of the mug. I love this one because it's square. I use it for iced coffee too.
The jug is made by Bormioli Rocco and it's the 2 liter size.
I poured my simple syrup into the jar and let cool.
So now I take these bad boys...
Cut in half. Pretty, yes? I don't need to roll these against the counter. They are super juicy and easy to juice. You should roll your lemons, pressing down hard with the palm of your hand if they are kind of hard. It makes it easier to juice.
The Indian bought me this and I never used it before. Here goes!
Wow. That was easy.
Can you believe only TWO lemons gave me over a cup of juice? Yeah. I know. Super Lemons.
I poured the fresh squeezed lemon juice into the pitcher with my cooled simple syrup. I guess I should admit that "cooled" is kind of exaggerating. I never have the patience to wait. It was more lukewarm/warm side than cooled. Whatever. It's fine.
Then I added 4 cups of water to the pitcher.
I put the top on. It's airtight. I love it.
I chilled in fridge.
When I was ready to eat my quiche, I poured over ice and garnished with an Oxnard strawberry.
Ever have one of those? They are divine. They taste like they've been rolled in sugar.
You can add as much or little water as you want. Taste as you go along. I know my lemons are sweet and super tasty so I can add a lot of water and it won't taste watered down. Taste yours as you add water so you don't end up with watery lemonade. And yes...this is sugar, but more importantly this is vitamin C. So there.
I'm gonna go pig out now. Bye!
This is realllllllllllly good with a (BIG) splash of vodka too. Just saying....
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