Anyone for a drink?

Today marks the longest day of the year and also the first day of summer despite what the weather might think!  There seem to be lots of recipes about for summer pudding so I thought I’d pass on a recipe for lemonade this time.

I find that once you’ve had a glass of homemade lemon juice its very difficult to choose shop bought again.

Ingredients

• 4 unwaxed lemons, washed
• 100g caster sugar

Method

1. Using a vegetable peeler, thinly peel the zest from the lemons, leaving as much white pith behind as possible. Squeeze the juice from the lemons. Place the zest, lemon juice and sugar in a large heatproof jug.
2. Pour in 600ml boiling water and stir until the sugar has totally dissolved. Cover, and leave to cool completely. Now, strain the lemon mixture into a serving jug, and discard the zest. Dilute with 400ml chilled water and sweeten with extra sugar to taste. Serve decorated with lemon slices, mint leaves and crushed ice.

If you want to make pink lemonade – chuck in a couple of handfuls of raspberries and give it a quick stir!