Lemonade

Over the weekend we discovered 10 ripe lemons on our lemon tree! While PE entertained PE JR. I decided to make lemonade! According to Rachel Ray if you heat up the lemons it will help the juices flow and make the lemons easier to work with. Since I don’t have a juicer of any form except my hands, I thought it would be a good idea. I heated the lemons up in the microwave for 30 seconds first and then decided it wasn’t long enough, so I gave them another 30 seconds. We were trying to think how you would do that post peak oil and first thought maybe you would boil them but then thought maybe warming them in hot coals or setting them out in the sun for a while might be a better way. So after I heated them I rolled them on the cutting board for a while to get them even jucier! By the time I had juiced all 10 lemons I had one cup of lemon juice. I thought it would be more but I think I had small lemons.

The next step is to make a simple syrup. To make a simple syrup you heat equal parts sugar and water, for this recipe one cup of each. Once you dissolve the sugar you combine the syrup and lemon juice in a pitcher. Then you add 4 cups of water and serve over ice. I have to say it was fabulous, tart and sweet and quite refreshing! I was quite proud of the results… The one strange thing was squeezing all of those lemons made my fingers wrinkly and they were kind of sore from all of the acid! It also started dissolving my nail polish! Strange, I guess I know what to do if I ever run out of nail polish remover! PE is going to try and get some of the essential oils out of the rinds when he has a chance. You can also compost the rinds, or you can throw one down the garbage disposal to freshen it up!