Summer is soon coming upon us, and strawberries are in season as well! My lemon tree has gone absolutely nuts! We have over a 100 lemons on our tree so if you would like to get some from me, for anyone who is local, please feel free to message me and I would love to meet you and give you lemons! The mint in our garden has gone crazy too! Mint grows really fast, and there is really nothing like fresh mint to brighten up and freshen up any flavor especially lemonade!
Who does not love strawberry lemonade?! It is the most quintessential drink of the summer season don’t you think? It is so fruity, refreshing, bright, pretty color, sweet, tart and absolutely delicious! I decided to amp up THE strawberry lemonade by adding hibiscus tea, mint simple syrup and sparkling water to it! I make a strawberry puree firstly with about 2 cups of strawberries. The puree is strained through a semi fine sieve to remove the seeds and just get the pure pulp out. I make a hibiscus tea by boiling hibiscus leaves in water and I let it sit for half hour to get this rich reddish purple color! I make a mint simple syrup by steeping mint leaves in boiling simple syrup and let it sit for half hour. Then it is just a matter of mixing the Strawberry Puree, Hibiscus Tea, Mint Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice, Water, Sparkling water, and lots of ice together to make a magic potion!
This lemonade is seriously addictive! You have it once, you would want to make it again and again, cause it will get over too quickly! I made it twice over a weekend! My kids could not stop drinking it 🙂 Do give this recipe a try, and let me know if you are addicted to it or not ;).
Please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram if you do make this recipe! I love hearing from you, if you do try any of my recipes!
In other news, these are the last few weeks of school. We all have been working hard with the kids to get them going with Kindergarten and 2nd grade! It has been constant going, going on that front, without any breaks and summer break will be a blessing! To NOT have homework, and just have some time to spend together without any rush or commitments, and with longer days means a chance to go for evening walks, and parks with the kids! Another school year gone by — sigh. It is always wonderful to look back and see how much the two of them have grown, academic wise and in personality and it is hard to believe I gave birth to these 2 monkeys!
I am looking forward to sharing more summer recipes this summer, and get them onto the blog!
Until then Ciao!
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- 2 cups strawberries, washed and hulled
- 1/3 cup dried hibiscus leaves
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 cup water(for the simple syrup)
- 3-4 sprigs of mint leaves
- 1 bottle of sparkling water
- 4 cups of water
- 3 cups of ice
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, put the organic cane sugar and 1 cup water, and mint leaves, on medium heat. Let the sugar melt in the water, and the mint leaves steep in the hot water. Once the mixture starts to boil, turn off the stove. Let it sit until cool.
- Puree the strawberries in a high speed blender with the mint simple syrup. Strain it through a fine sieve to remove any seeds or pulp. Set it aside.
- In a small saucepan, add one cup of water and the hibiscus leaves. At medium heat let the water boil. Once it boils, turn off the stove and let it sit until cool. Strain the water to remove the hibiscus leaves.
- In a large pitcher, add in the lemon juice, strawberry-mint simple syrup juice, hibiscus tea, sparkling water, plain water, and the ice! Stir well with a wooden spoon.
- You can adjust to your taste. Maybe you like it more tart - add more lemon juice. If you like it more sweet, add more sugar. If you like it more watery, add more water.
- Your delicious lemonade is ready! 🙂
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