As soon as the temperature rises beyond 25ºC, I start craving lemonade. And until this summer I’ve been making my lemonade the classical way: freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, water and ice cubes. A few weeks ago I came to the idea of adding other ingredients in order to boost the flavour of lemonade. To make it taste even more lemony, I prepared the syrup with grated lemon peel. I did the same with cardamom pods, mint and lemon balm (melissa) – and each “version” had a unique taste.

The recipe

Note: The quantities I use are approximate, feel free to adapt them to your taste. I use only organically grown lemons and cane sugar (you can substitute it either with the white one or with honey).

1,5 l water
3-4 lemons
4-5 tablespoons cane sugar
optional ingredients: lemon peel, cardamom pods, fresh mint leaves, fresh lemon balm leaves
ice cubes to taste

In a pan, combine half cup of water, sugar and the chosen optional ingredient(s). Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a gentle boil. After a few minutes, remove from the stove and let cool down.
Juice the lemons and pour the juice through a fine strainer into a prepared jar. Add the ice cubes.
Once cooled, strain the syrup and add it to the lemon juice. Now pour over the rest of water and stir the lemonade well.

Lemon balm lemonade