Homemade Lemonade

It too darn hot! Well it might not be where you are BUT why not pretend? This is the ultimate cool down drink after a day in the sun, or in front of the heater!

Ingredients
1 large lemon
A handful of fresh mint
3 tablespoons of sugar (more for a sweeter drink)
1/4 of a cup of boiling water
and lots and lots of ICE!
1 can of soda water


First things first you have to make your sugar syrup because it needs time to cool down. In a small bowl put in your sugar and slice off a section of lemon rind. Remember when cutting the lemon rind try just to cut of the fragrant yellow part because the pith (That white stuff) is very bitter and will destroy the soft fragrance of the rind. Then pour the boiling water over the sugar and rind whilst mixing continuously, you want to make sure that all the sugar is dissolved. Place the bowl to one side to let it cool

Then we can start preparing the lemon. First slice/grate off the rest of the lemon rind if you can try and cut one long strand off and keep that for decoration later. Then place all the rind into a small cocktail shaker. Slice the lemons in half and squeeze out all the juice into the cocktail shaker. Roughly chop the mint (you can save some for decoration later if you wish) and put that in the shaker as well. Once the syrup has reached room temperature add that to the cocktail shaker as well, then chuck in lots of ice. If the syrup is still piping hot when you put it in the shaker it will melt the ice instantly making a very dull watery drink.

Then you SHAKE! The idea is to bruise the lemon rind with the ice that way the natural fragrant oils in the rind will be absorbed by the syrup. Shake for a couple of minutes then get a glass and pour in your can of soda water. Whilst mixing constantly pour in your syrup, you might want to use a strainer/sieve at this point. Then add a little extra ice! Done, the perfect cold drink for a hot day!

Extra Tips for decoration!
Add a couple extra mint leaves in the glass or getting a long thin piece of rind! To make your rind form a cute little cork screw -like in the picture- just wind it around a metal spoon and put it in the freezer for around 10 mins. It should keep its shape for much longer than just leaving it at room temp.