- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Location
- Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Yellow lemons
Abhijit Tembhekar [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Many of the earliest Southern cookbooks included recipes for lemonade. One was the 1824 cookbook, "The Virginia Housewife" by Mary Randolph. She simply advised mixing freshly pressed lemon juice with water and sugar to taste. That wasn't much of a recipe but lemonade became very popular in the South.
The key is a basic balance and smooth texture, and simple syrup made with regular granulated white cane sugar. Using a one-to-one ratio, simmer your sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is clear. Make sure the mixture does not boil. Allow the syrup to cool. and keep it refrigerated. Now that you have your syrup, juice a dozen very fresh, springy-feeling lemons, removing the seeds but keeping the pulp for texture and bursts of flavor. Mix in seven cups of filtered water and three cups of the syrup.
You will find this so refreshing and certainly authentic Dixie lemonade.
From: "The Southerner's Handbook", by David DiBenedetto and the editors of Garden & Gun.
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