Written by Krissa Jeldy of More Than Mundane.

We have an abundance of lemons this time of year and one of the things I love to make is lemonade. Spring and summer just call for homemade lemonade in my opinion, because, really–what says “summer” more than drinking an ice cold glass of lemonade?

Traditionally, lemonade is made with white sugar, but I’m always looking for healthier sweeteners, and honey is perfect in this case, because it pairs so well with lemons. You may want to play with the amount of honey in the recipe and adjust it to your level of desired sweetness. I find that if I’m adding in a sweet fruit at the end, I don’t need as much honey.

шины в Литве

This is my basic lemonade recipe with lots of ways to add in some fun variety as well.

Honey Sweetened Sparkling Lemonade

Ingredients

  • 1 cup + 2 cups of water
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 7-8 lemons (you will need 1 cup of lemon juice)
  • optional add-ins: ginger, lavender, rosemary, basil, mint, frozen fruit
  • club soda/sparkling water (optional)

Directions

1. Begin by making a simple syrup by heating 1 cup water with 1 cup honey on the stove. Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the peels from several lemons to your simple syrup while it simmers. This is also where you can add in your flavors, or you can stick with just the lemon peels for traditional lemonade. Other options for add-ins:

  • ginger (2 inch segment of fresh ginger, sliced)
  • lavender (1-2 Tbsp. dried lavender buds)
  • rosemary (2-3 sprigs)
  • basil
  • mint
  • thyme
  • sage

2. While your honey simple syrup simmers, juice your lemons. You want 1 cup of lemon juice.

3. Cool the honey simple syrup and strain the add-ins out.

4. Mix together the honey simple syrup, lemon juice, and 2 cups of cool water (or 3 cups if you’re not mixing with sparkling water).

5. Fill a glass 2/3 full with the lemonade and top off with some club soda/sparkling water. You can also add in fresh or frozen fruit at this point. I like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries or peaches. I also like watermelon, but blend it until it’s smooth before adding it to the lemonade.

Some Good Pairings

  • Basil + Strawberry
  • Mint + Cucumber
  • Lavender + Blueberry
  • Basil + Blackberry
  • Basil + Cucumber
  • Thyme + Peach
  • Sage + Blackberry
  • Rosemary + Peach
  • Mint + Strawberry

My most recent batch was mint with muddled strawberries, which both my daughter and my husband declared “the best lemonade ever.”

How do you like your lemonade? Classic, or with some fun flavors mixed in?