State Fair Lemonade
The perfect lemonade recipe that uses whole lemons. You will never find a lemonade recipe that's more flavorful, intense and thirst quenching.
Ingredients
- 6 lemons large; use more if small
- 1ΒΌ cups sugar
- 5 cups water
Instructions
- Wash lemons very well under hot water. This will remove any waxy residue that might be on the lemons. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the yellow part of the skin, leaving as much of the white part behind as possible. This white pith could make your lemonade slightly bitter. Add skins to a medium bowl and set remaining lemons aside.
- Pour the sugar over the lemon skins and toss together to coat well. Now cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 2-12 hours. The sugar will pull out the natural oils in the skins that will flavor the lemonade.
- Add 2 cups of the water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the lemon peel/sugar mixture and allow to simmer gently on low for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Add the remaining 3 cups of water to the mixture. This will cool it down quickly. Now cut the remaining lemons in half and juice them into the mixture. Be sure it is not too hot still (it's okay if it's a little warm) or the brightness of the lemon juice will dissipate. Once all the juice has been added, strain the mixture into a serving container. Chill for a few hours before serving over ice.