So when my mum tells me you should see the size of the lemons out here – I thought she meant they were a little larger. However, on day two of arriving in Paphos my dad takes me across the street to a neighbour’s garden and shows me their lemon tree – cue uncontrolled giggles from the girls and gasps of delight. They are the sizes of oranges and are all ripe and just waiting to be picked (we had permission people) and made into yummy lemonade.
The photos don’t do it justice as I deliberately left “big camera”, aka my work one, at home to reduce worrying about luggage and insurance on holiday. So these were taken on our travel friendly “little camera” but you get the gist.
Fuelled by what can only be described as holiday fever, we decided that we’d have a go despite not having a recipe – I mean how hard can it be right? Lemons, sugar and water and some ice cubes. And to be fair, it was pretty simple but I thought it was a good idea to check on the quantities so after a speedy check on Google I returned to the kitchen with the basic and simple recipe which you can try yourself at home:
Ingredients
juice from 4/5 lemons
one cup of caster sugar (granulated will do but might take longer to dissolve)
one cup of water
cold water to top up to make a full jug of lemonade
Equipment
pan
electric or hand juicer
wooden spoon
jug or large bowl
Method
Juice the lemons and pour into a bowl and keep to one side. In a small pan, put one cup of sugar to one cup of water and heat over a low heat till all the sugar is dissolved. You can feel with the wooden spoon when there are no more grains and it’s ready to go. This is basically your sugar syrup to use to create the lemonade. Next get a pint of cold water at the ready and another large bowl or jug. To the empty jug put all the lemon juice and a little water – then once the syrup has cooled a little pout it into the jug with the lemon juice and mix thoroughly before topping up with the rest of the water. Carry on stirring so all the sugar, lemon juice and water combine and then leave to cool before transferring to the fridge with a few slices of lemons. If you leave it to chill for about an hour (longer is fine) it is delicious and ready to serve. Add a few ice cubes and pour into glasses and serve. If you want to make it a bit fun for the kids you can decorate some glasses by dipping the rims in egg white and then dusting with sugar! Not quite a lemoncello margerita but not lots of fun, not just for the kids!
Hope you have fun making your own and don’t forget to share any tips or tricks.
Remember, adventure is out there!
Nat x
