Divine strawberry lemonade

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a glass pitcher half-filled with orange liquid, sitting on a weathered wooden table with lots of greenery and some stone buildings in the background

Yesterday, I made strawberry lemonade for the first time ever.  This is one of my all-time favourite fruit drinks and it's hard to find it pre-made or on offer in cafes/restaurants (raspberry lemonade, on the other hand, is pretty common?). 

I started this recipe with the lemonade base from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" -- a super-useful and iconic cookbook of which there is also a vegetarian version -- then improvised the strawberry part based on my experience with strawberry ice cream.  

It turned out well and made me happy!  

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients: 

• 300g strawberries
• a two-cup recipe of simple syrup (2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar)
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 cups water

Directions: 

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine two cups of sugar with two cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add 1 cup of sugar syrup, and puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  Adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it; I used another cup of simple syrup.  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.  

You could probably make this with sparkling water just as easily.  If you're making a pitcher, just swap in sparkling water.  If you want to make individual glasses, you could combine everything except the water; I'd need (or you'd need!) to experiment with proportions for how much base per glass.

Enjoy!

Edited to add: 

For divine strawberry lemonade:

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add to simple syrup, and just bring to a boil.  Once cool, puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  (If necessary, adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it.)  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.  

For Really Divine strawberry lemonade:

1)  First, make simple syrup.  Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar with 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan, and heat, stirring every so often, until all the sugar is dissolved.  

2)  Cut up 300g of strawberries, add to simple syrup, and just bring to a boil.  Leave to sit overnight (or leave to sit overnight once mixed with rest of ingredients). Once cool, puree.  I used an immersion blender; you could probably also use a hand masher, a regular blender, or a food processor.  

3)  In a pitcher, combine 1 cup lemon juice, 3 cups water, and the pureed sweetened strawberries.  Mix well with a long-handled spoon.  Sample.  (If necessary, adjust sweetness by adding more simple syrup until it's where you want it.)  Bear in mind things taste sweeter when warm and this will taste a bit less sweet when chilled.