Homemade Lemonade

Ingredients

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Makes: 3 litres of concentrated cordial

6 lemons, scrubbed in cold water
1 ½ kg CSR White Sugar
50 g (1/2 packet) citric acid
3 litres water

Method

Peel the rind off 2 lemons, taking care to get just the outer skin, no white pith (use a potato peeler).
Place the peel and 2 cups of the sugar in the food processor and run the processor until the rind is really ground up and the sugar is yellow and oily looking.

Tip into a large saucepan. Squeeze all 6 lemons and strain off to remove any pips. Mix the juice with the lemon sugar mixture, add the remaining sugar and the citric acid. Place the pot on a medium element and add the 3 litres of water, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cool and pour into clean bottles and store in the fridge.

To serve dilute with water – 1 part cordial to 3 or 4 parts water. To make fizzy lemonade, dilute with sparkling mineral water or soda water. For a party, try pink lemonade by adding a few drops of pink food colouring to the cordial. Dress up the glasses with fancy straws, ice cubes, slices of fruit and cocktail umbrellas or little plastic toys.