Old-Fashioned Lemonade + 5 From-Scratch Summer Drinks
There’s a certain kind of heat that settles over the South in July. The air quits moving, the cicadas get loud, and the only sensible thing left to do is find some shade and something cold to hold onto. If you live in the south you know what I’m talking about.
When I was a girl growing up in Georgia, that something cold came out of a sweating glass pitcher that lived in the middle of the kitchen table all summer long. My mama always made the best sweet tea (she still does!), and we always had a pitcher of it ready to drink.
So here’s my question: when did we decide that a drink had to come from a powder packet or a plastic jug?
Now I’ll admit that my kids’ great-grandmother, Mrs. Jackson, loved making Country Time Lemonade, and it was a sweet treat on a hot summer day, but a pitcher of old-fashioned lemonade costs about the same as one of those big bottles at the store. Even better, it only takes ten minutes and tastes amazing. That’s the whole idea behind this month’s theme.
Our theme this month, Old School Summer, isn’t about doing more. It’s about going back to the simple things that were good all along.
Why bother making it from scratch
Somewhere along the way, “from scratch” started to feel like a luxury. Like something you only did if you had extra time and extra energy, but the truth is, making food (or drinks) from scratch is worth the effort. When you make a recipe over and over again, it eventually becomes part of your family culture, and family culture is important.
Real lemons, a little sugar, and cold water are not hard to put together. It doesn’t take a special machine or a trip to three stores. It’s just a handful of ingredients you probably already recognize, maybe keep on hand in your pantry, and put together the old way. And there’s a quiet kind of worth in that — in handing your family something you made with your own two hands, even when it’s just a glass of lemonade.
There’s a verse I keep coming back to, where Jesus talks about how even a cup of cold water given to someone doesn’t go unnoticed (Matthew 10:42). I don’t think He was only talking about sharing or hospitality. I think He was reminding us that the small, ordinary things we do for the people around us matter more than we know.
#1 Old-Fashioned Lemonade
The secret to this recipe is making a quick, simple syrup first, because sugar doesn’t want to dissolve in cold water no matter how long you stir.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water, for the syrup
- 4 to 5 cups cold water
- Lemon slices and ice, for serving
Warm the 1 cup of water and the sugar in a small pan until the sugar disappears, then let it cool. Stir in your lemon juice, pour it all into a pitcher, and add the cold water to taste. Chill it, drop in some lemon slices, and pour it over plenty of ice.
If it’s too tart, add a splash more water. Too sweet, squeeze in another lemon. Making it yourself means you get to decide.
#2 Southern Sweet Tea
I can’t write a summer drinks post as a Southern girl and leave out sweet tea. Sweet tea is truly the best drink in the world. So here’s my mama’s recipe, exactly the way she makes it.
Boil 1 to 1½ cups of water. Add 3 regular tea bags and let them steep until the tea reaches a rich, deep color — somewhere around 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the bags, then stir in just under ⅓ cup of sugar (a good ¼ cup does the trick) until it’s fully dissolved. Pour it into a quart pitcher and fill the rest of the way with cold water.
My mama’s mama (Mama Elsie) always made it light, but my Mama prefers it dark. Make it however your family likes it best.
#3 Strawberry Lemonade
Once you’ve got the lemonade down, this one is barely any extra work, and it’s one of my favorites!
Take a heaping cup of fresh strawberries, blend them until smooth, and stir that right into your finished old-fashioned lemonade. Strain out the seeds if you like a smoother drink, or leave them in. It turns the prettiest pink, and it tastes like summer decided to show off.
Alternatively, you could use a wooden muddler and crush the strawberries instead of blending.
#4 Sun Tea
Now, this is an old-school recipe and a fun activity to do with your children!
Fill a clean gallon jar with water, add 6 to 8 tea bags, put the lid on, and set it in a sunny spot for three to four hours. That’s it. The sun does the steeping.
One honest word of caution: because it never gets hot, sun tea can grow bacteria if you leave it out too long. So bring it in after four hours, refrigerate it, and drink it within a day or so. Made that way, it’s perfectly safe and perfectly lovely.
#5 Fresh Limeade
This recipe is everything you love about lemonade, turned bright and a little more grown-up. It’s my pick for a hot evening on the porch. Garnish with mint and a lime wedge.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh lime juice (8 to 10 limes)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water, for the syrup
- 4 to 5 cups cold water
Make it exactly the way you made the lemonade — simple syrup first, then juice, then cold water to taste. A few thin lime slices floating on top make it look like you fussed, even though you didn’t.
You don’t have to make every one of these. You don’t have to make any of them today. But somewhere in this list is a drink your people would love, and it’s within reach of a regular afternoon and a regular kitchen. That’s really what homemaking is, when you get down to it. Not the grand gestures. The pitcher on the table. The cup of cold water handed to someone you love. The small, ordinary things done on purpose.
If you’re the kind of woman who wants to build a home full of these little on-purpose moments, sweet friend, I’d love for you to come join us inside The Homemaker’s Society. We’ve got recipes, rhythms, and a whole community of women learning to treasure the ordinary right alongside you. You can come see what it’s all about; just click on the button below.
