Winter in Arizona is citrus season. Lemons, grapefruit, limes, oranges of all sorts.
One of my friends just down the street has a HUGE lemon tree. I brought home 70 pounds of lemons last week. Honestly, folks just GIVE them away. Every other yard has a lemon tree, or other citrus - wonderful!
Now what do you do with 70 pounds of lemons??? You juice them and freeze the juice! Summer lemonade is a BIG thing around the citrus zone! So you start preparing for those tall frosty glasses of reviving juice when the citrus is in season - NOW! By the time it's 105 degrees here, the lemons are long gone. Freezing is fast, easy, and preserves all the good pucker power!
So here's the process:
Than helped - to the end!!! All the guys had a turn using the squeezer! That was a LOT of lemons.
Our lemonade recipe uses
1 1/2 cups lemon juice, so we froze the juice in sandwich bags - just the right amount!
ARIZONA LEMONADE
Make a simple syrup: 1 3/4 c. sugar and 1 c. water heated to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.
Chill the syrup (we keep some in the fridge in a quart jar, ready to go!). Mix the syrup with 1 1/2 c. fresh squeezed (or frozen) lemon juice and 7 cups cold water. Add a few ice cubes to tall glasses, pour in the fresh lemonade, lean back and enjoy!!
You don't have to come to Arizona to enjoy this lemonade. But it really does seem to be better here! We have the patio and chairs just waiting for you!
PS: If you try this with bottled processed lemonade, you will NOT be getting the real deal!!
Look at those muscles on Than! Nice job!
ReplyDeleteOh, rats. It's been so long since I was here that I forgot my password, had to reset it, and of course...the original comment is long gone. Well, basically it said that March teased us with one 60 degree day, then went back to 40 and cloudy and rainy, and I am, as I am every year....SO SICK OF WINTER!! Your bright yellow lemons make me long for your lawn chairs and blue sky, and of course, some yummy homemade lemonade!!
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