Lovely Lemons

Nothing says, “hello summer!” quite like a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. Now I know summer does not officially start for few more weeks but Memorial Day weekend always feels to me like the unofficial kick off to summertime. Particularly when it’s a warm sunshiny one like we are having here in San Diego. Luckily here at Specialty Produce we have an array of delicious lemons to choose from for all of your summertime lemonade making needs. Three of my personal favorites lemons are:
 
Organic Italian Sorrento Lemons
 
Sweet Meyer Lemons from Garcia Farms
 
And a beautiful Farmers Market find, Pink Lemons from J.J. Lone Daughter Ranch.
 
All three of these lemons made for an amazing glass of lemonade, are perfectly tart, and so lemony that their scent will linger deliciously on your fingers long after you have squeezed them of their juice.
There are so many different delicious ways to enjoy lemonade…

• Infused with herbs such as lavender or basil
• Served bubbly by substituting a little club soda for the water
• Sweetened with a simple syrup infused with vanilla bean
• With any number of colorful fruits chopped up and mixed in such as kiwi, blood orange, pineapple or blueberries

Here is one of my personal favorite lemonade recipes…
 
Muddled Strawberry Mint Lemonade

When at the peak of their season berries are a sweet addition to the tart lemon juice and on particularly warm days mint makes for an extra refreshing beverage.
 
Ingredients
2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 or 6 cups of water
1 cup sugar (or alternative sweetener of choice)
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup mint leaves
 
Preparation
After juicing the lemons pour 2 cups of the juice into a pitcher and set aside.
Place about half of the strawberries, mint and sugar in a bowl and muddle together using the back of a spoon or fork. Add this mixture to the lemon juice and stir to combine. Add 5 cups of water and the remaining strawberries, sugar, and mint and stir until combined.
At this point you should taste your summery concoction and feel free to add more water or sugar to your hearts content.   
Pop the pitcher in the fridge to chill for a few hours or serve immediately over ice. If you have time you can make ice cubes with bits of mint leaves frozen inside of them or make ice cubes out of the lemonade to later serve it over.