Lemonade (and Limeade) 1 1/2 Quarts Ingredients Quantity Methods White sugar 1 cup 1. Make the simple syrup. Combine the sugar and 1 cup of the water in a Water 5 cups small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat to dissolve sug- Lemons or Limes 6-8 each ar. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, remove from heat to cool. 2. Squeeze the lemons. Roll each lemon over your cutting board, pressing down as you do. This will help them to release their juice. Cut in half and squeeze. Repeat until you have one cup. You may not need all the lemons but try to save at least one half if you want to garnish your glasses. 3. Combine. Add the cooled syrup to your pitcher, followed by the lemon juice and the remaining 4 cups of water. Stir. Taste and adjust: add a few tablespoons of sugar if it needs to be sweeter or the juice of 1/2 lemon if it needs more tartness. 4. Add ice. Add ice to pitcher if you think you will drink the whole pitcher right away. Otherwise add ice to each glass. Garnish. It's optional, but garnishes are fun. Try a slice of fruit, a sprig of mint or other herb, or a flower such as lavender or nasturtium. If you've infused the simple syrup with an herb (see below) its helpful to garnish the glass with the herb used.

Recipe courtesy of thekitchn.com

Variations:  For Meyer lemonade, use less simple syrup (start with 1/2 to 2/3 cup) and replace the lemons with meyer lem- ons. For pink lemonade, add a few tablespoons of grenadine. (Note: homemade grenadine is often not as vivid as store bought, so you may need to add more.)  For ginger lemonade or limeade, add 3 coins of fresh ginger to the sugar and water, and bring to a simmer. Re- move from heat, leaving the ginger in the syrup as it cools. When cool, remove ginger and proceed with recipe.

 For herbed lemonade or limeade, add a few springs of thyme or basil to the syrup after you remove it from the heat. Allow the herbs to steep while the syrup cools. Carefully fish it out before using in the recipe.

Recipe Notes  Make extra simple syrup! It will keep in the refrigerator for a very long time and you will be happy you have it already on hand and chilled for the next time you make lemonade. The proportion is always 1:1 sugar and water.  Cool the syrup more quickly: If you do have to start with making the simple syrup for this recipe and you're in a hurry, you can cool the syrup quickly by pouring it from the sauce pan into another heatproof container. It's also OK if the syrup is slightly warm when mixing as the water and lemon juice will cool it quickly. If you're infusing the syrups, however, it's good to let them cool with their infusing agents as long as possible.  Remove the seeds: I like to pick out the seeds from the citrus so I can avoid straining the juice, as I like a little of the pulp in my lemonade. If this is too fussy for you, you can strain your lemon juice after squeezing.

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