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–+ servings
lemonade in glasses and large jug.
5 from 9 votes
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Triple-Citrus Lemonade

Delicious triple-citrus lemonade with all the fresh flavor of citrus zest and fresh mint.
Author Charlé Visser
Prep Time 5 minutes
Infusion time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 12 portions
Course Drinks
Cuisine American, European

Ingredients

For the citrus syrup base

  • 250 g (1 ¼ cups) sugar
  • 1 L (4 ¼ cups) water
  • 15 g (2 ½ tablespoon) lemon zest
  • 15 g (2 ½ tablespoon) orange zest
  • 10 g (1 ⅔ tablespoon) lime zest

To add to the base

  • 1 L (4 ¼ cups) water
  • 180 g (¾ cups) lemon juice
  • 60 g (¼ cups) lime juice
  • 160 g (⅔ cups) orange juice

For serving

  • ½ (½) bunch fresh mint
  • 1 kg (4 ¼ cups) Ice cubes
  • Orange, lime and lemon - for fresh slices

Instructions

For the syrup base

  • Wash the citrus well and pat dry — you're using the skin.
  • Zest the lemons, limes and oranges, taking only the colored layer, not the bitter white pith. Halve the fruit and set aside to juice.
  • Boil 250 g water with 250 g sugar until dissolved, then add 750 g cold water (or the same weight in ice) to make a warm 20% syrup.
  • Stir the zest into the warm — not hot — syrup and infuse 1 hour. Don't boil it; high heat drives off the citrus oils.
  • Strain, discard the zest, keep the syrup.

Finishing the lemonade

  • Juice the citrus and stir the juice into the syrup.
  • Add 1 liter of water.
  • Taste — make it brighter and sharper than you'd serve it, since the ice dilutes as it melts.
  • Chill well in the fridge.

To serve

  • Slice some citrus and pick a few sprigs of fresh mint.
  • Add to a jug with ice and stir.
  • Serve in chilled glasses with more citrus, mint and ice.

Notes

  1. Stir in extra fruit pieces just before serving.
  2. Top the base syrup with sparkling water for a citrus spritzer.
  3. Add gin, vodka, or whisky for a cocktail.
  4. Use the base syrup as a drizzle over cakes.
  5. Freeze the finished lemonade in popsicle molds.
  6. Swap the sugar for honey, weight for weight.
  7. For a sugar-free version, use a sugar replacement — go by taste, not the measurements here, as replacements are much sweeter.
  8. In sealed bottles, the lemonade keeps up to 5 days in the fridge. To store longer, freeze the syrup base (before the final water) for up to 3 months — thawed, finished lemonade separates, so freeze it only as popsicles.

Nutrition

Serving: 250g Calories: 94.7kcal Carbohydrates: 24.62g Protein: 0.27g Fat: 0.09g Saturated Fat: 0.01g Sodium: 11.13mg Fiber: 0.57g Sugar: 22.62g Vitamin A: 0.5IU Vitamin C: 21.57mg Calcium: 1.87mg Iron: 1.28mg
Keywords:citrus drinks, lemonade, mocktail
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