(lemonade in the making - farmer's market strawberries and basil)
New Yorks mayor Michael Bloomberg has been on the fence against sugary drinks. He want’s to level sugar consumption in terms of sodas by restricting drinks offered any size bigger then 16 oz – big gulp good by. Not a bad idea to my means especially if the sweetness comes from sugar and corn syrup since it is know to add to the scary obesity rate in the US.
Kudos for the timing Mr. Mayor since the hot season invites you to reach for commercial iced soda, lemonade or iced tea it defiantly is refreshing. But think again the other side of such refreshment is an overload of empty calories – meaning it’s not got for our bodies with all the refined sugar as an ingredient. On the other hand there are sugar free beverages which are made with artificial/synthetic sugars such as Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), Saccharin (Sweet’N Low), Sucralose (Splenda) -you might them under the name in parentheses. Such sweeteners are useful calorie wise since they don’t add up but are said to be cancerous and frankly not enough research has been done to know how our bodies going to react to it in the future. There might be hope thought - you might have heard of Stevia an herb, which is manufactured into a sweetener with minimal calories with brand names such as Truvia, SweetLeaf, etc. Stevia does not cause cavities and has great potential to be the top pick for diabetics, which had to reach for the artificial sweeteners mentioned earlier. A downside of stevia is flavor some stevia products add a bitter tang or liquorish flavor to a beverage, which is not pleasing since many of our palates are “trained” to gravitate to refined white sugar.
(watermelon lemonade)
Lemonades
One of the first business lessons I was taught as a kid was to drop a few fresh lemon slices, an insane amount of refined white sugar, ice topped off with water into a nice looking jar. We sold such creations in clear plastic cups with rainbow colored straws on the curbside of the street in front of our parent’s house. Well, this was over thirty years ago now I try to be smarter and add touches of sweetness with honey, agave, maple syrup I have yet to experiment with brown rice syrup but it seems to be somewhat comparable. A few combination worked particularly good here are my findings enjoy…
Lemonade recipe steps:
- use fresh herbs, juices, fruits
- peel fruits were required
- juice fruits were required
- process all ingredients in a kitchen blender (you may strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve if you want a smooth puree/liquid)
- pour all lemonades over ice into attractive looking glasses
Zesty Blueberry Mint Lemonade
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 oz fresh mint, chopped
2 lemons, remove zest (yellow skin) with a zester or a vegetable peeler then chop then juice lemons
¼ cup maple syrup
Watermelon & Herb Lemonade
2 pound watermelon
1 table spoon fresh lemon thyme leafs or substitute 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon
fresh lavender flowers
2 lemons, juiced
¼ cup agave nectar
Cucumber & Lime w. Mint Lemonade
4 cups water
2 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
2 limes, juiced
1 oz mint, chopped
½ cup agave nectar
Pink Strawberry & Basil Lemonade
4 cups water
2 lemon, juiced
1 cup basil leafs
1/3 cup honey
(raspberry lemonade with mint)
Chef’s Tip: If you don’t have a kitchen blender put all ingredients (except ice cubes) into a bar shaker and shake the ingredients vigorously then drain the juice into glasses filled with ice. Or muddle ingredients without the ice in a narrow container then add water and pour the mixture through a strainer over ice cube filled glasses.
