Jun. 28, 2021
Cooking In Season
Salad Meals to Beat the Heat
In this recipe round up, I have gathered my best and most delicious summer salad meal recipes in one post, for days when it’s too hot to cook!
July 8, 2012
Tayberry Lemonade!
Super lemony and berry-forward, this refreshing beverage is delicious on a hot day, loved by both adults and kids.
This is the kind of post that needs to start with exclamation marks! Because it’s summer and the berries are BACK!
There is nothing so refreshing as lemonade, on ice, on the deck, on a hot summer evening – especially if you are school-aged and the lemonade in question is pink!
The very special way of making this lemonade I learned from my favourite food-nerd magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. This recipe invloves no juicing, but only the most satisfying mashing of thinly sliced lemons with sugar to release both the tart lemon juice and the super lemony lemon oil from the yellow peels.
It is easy for kids to make as well (they may need some help with the slicing). The kids in my cooking camps make this most years and LOVE the process. Mashing food in the kitchen, yay!
You can make this lemonade plain, or mixed with limes, or mixed with any berry of your choice. I have frequently used raspberries, but when I saw some fresh tayberries available in the grocery store a few days ago I got the shivers.
If you have read my blog before, you will understand my love for tayberries. They are a cross between blackberries, loganberries, and raspberries. They manage to carry the flavours of all three, while adding something extra to the mix, especially when you cook them. They are DELICIOUS in this pink lemonade.
Which is why this recipe has a breif cooking stage for the berries, which can be skipped if necessary, and definitely if using other berries for this drink.
This pink lemonade is deliciously lemony and profoundly berry-ish and pink and beautiful and loved by everyone who has tasted it. Give it a try and let your kids get invloved – it will be a good time.
Tayberry Lemonade
Super lemony and berry-forward, this refreshing beverage is the perfect zero-proof drink to enjoy on warm afternoon, for both kids and adults.
Ingredients
7 to 9 medium lemons
500 ml (2 cups) fresh or frozen tayberries (or other berry of choice)
200 g (1 cup) sugar
small pinch salt
875 ml (3-1/2 cups) cold water
ice for serving
Note ~ If using raspberries or strawberries in this drink, skip the first step and add them raw directly to the lemons and mash with the sugar as stated in step three. Tayberries taste better when cooked, that’s all.
Instructions
- Combine the tayberries in a pot with about 1/2 cup of the water. Bring to a simmer and simmer, mashing the berries slightly, until the berries have given off all their juice. Set aside.
- Scrub the lemons very well, and cut them in half from stem to end (lengthwise). Cut the lemon halves very, very thinly and place in a large, deep bowl or soup pot. Add the sugar and salt and let the mixture sit for 15 to 20 minutes. This is to give the sugar time to extract all the juice from the lemons.
- Use a potato masher or wooden spoon to mash the mixture for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the lemons have given up all their juice and the sugar is dissolved. Be careful not to over-mash the fruit because this can make the drink bitter.
- Pour the berry mixture into the lemon mixture and stir well. Now add the remaining 3 cups of water water into the fruit mixture and stir well. Place a fine strainer over a bowl and pour the mixture through it, catching all the juice in the bowl and leaving the lemon slices and berry seeds behind in the strainer. I often leave the strainer over the bowl for about 15 minutes, to make sure to get all the yummy juice
- Place in the lemonade in the fridge until ready to serve. Stir well before serving. Serve in nice glasses over ice.
My kids loved the lemonade.Thanks
Heidi
Fantastic, I found the Tayberries at the Red Barn Market today from Gobind Farms, and this lemonade is summer in a glass. A little Gin and we are off to the races!
Thanks so much for the recipe
Awesome, Linda! I love the gin idea 🙂 So glad you liked the recipe,
H
This is the most lovely summer drink! A splash of gin somehow made its way in there too. 🙂 This is an excellent guide to a new summer tradition – thank you!
When the gin gets in without us noticing 😉
Super idea! I’ve never made lemonade this way but mashing the slices makes total sense. I did mash strawberries once and added them to lemonade…so awesome! Berries and lemonade were meant for each other.
The mashing system is such a winner! So glad Cooks Illustrated could help a girl out LOL.
I have never heard of tayberries but now I’m going to be on the look out! Love lemonade in the summer and can’t wait to try your version.
I hope you find some. They are SO good.
I love this “mashing” method of making lemonade! So simple but so flavourful. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome!
I don’t know what I’m more excited about – the tayberries (because they’re amazing and so underappreciated), or the simple maceration method for lemonade! I macerate fruit a lot for preserves, but I’ve never done it for lemonade, and now I’m really excited to try it. Brilliant stuff!
Yay, Sean, that’s my favourite thing about this recipe, too!
I love finding new refreshing drinks to make, especially ones that sound so exotic! Definitely pinning this one for later!
I’ve never heard of tayberries before! I’ll need to be on the lookout for them as this summer drink looks like a refreshing, smashing idea!