Berry Pink Lemonade

What could be more perfect for summer than lemonade? In our family, whenever we get together, most of the time you will find us drinking lemonade of some sort, either Mint Lemonade, Orange Lemonade, and now this Berry Pink Lemonade.

I wanted to create a recipe for Pink Lemonade that was as simple as possible. I didn’t want to be making simple syrup, cooking fruit, etc. Even though I do that many times for other recipes, like Apple Pear Kompot, Cranberry Raspberry Mors or Raspberry Peach Iced Tea, this time I wanted something that I could manage with the least amount of dishes, appliances and especially the stove. During the summer, simplicity is crucial, in my opinion.

Using fresh berries was the key and I was so happy with the taste. It honestly turned out so much better than I imagines, and my expectations were certainly high. The color is so vibrant and beautiful and you can comfort yourself that there is no dye in your drink or other weird ingredients. This lemonade was full of “berryness” and just the right amount of tartness from the lemons. A sip of this brought me back to picking berries in the woods, surrounded by the green scent of the forrest, arms and legs scratched from the berry bushes and lips, tongue and fingers stained with berry juice. 

Ingredients:

1 pint raspberries

1 – 1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled

1 – 1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 – 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus 1-2 of the lemons peeled

6-8 cups water

Optional garnishes: lemon slices, raspberries, strawberries, mint

Instructions:

Place the raspberries, strawberries lemon juice, lemon peel and sugar into a medium or large bowl.

Use a potato masher to mash them all together, until the mixture is an even consistency and the sugar is dissolved.

You can also use a food processor or a blender. All that pressure will cause the sugar to dissolve. The amount of sugar that you use is completely up to you. It also depends on how sweet your berries are.

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, pushing the fruit solids against the sides of the sieve, to get as much of the liquid out as you can. Discard the solids. You should have approximately 2 cups of this beautiful, concentrated berry lemon mixture. Dilute the berry and lemon concentrate with 6-8 cups of water, or even 10 cups of water, if you want it to have a more mild flavor. Garnish with lemon slices, whole fresh raspberries or strawberries and mint. Keep the Berry Pink Lemonade refrigerated. It will stay fresh for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. It’s also perfect to take along on a picnic or to a potluck. I really like to store the Berry Pink Lemonade in glass mason jars, since they are 100% spill proof. Unless you drop them. Yikes! Be careful and nestle your drink in something padded, like a towel.

The longer it stands, the more flavorful it gets. I love the mint and the lemon flavor mixed in with the berries.