Herbed Lemonade (Mint, Basil, Dill)
Ingredients
- 1 cup water for the simple syrup
- 1 cups and 1/2 granulated sugar
- 1/8 cup to 1/4 fresh mint leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 tablespoons to 2 fresh dill sprigs
- 1 cups and 1/2 lemon juice bottled or fresh
- 7 cups to 8 water
- ice
Instructions
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In a small to medium saucepan, combine 1 cup water and the granulated sugar.
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Turn over medium heat and stir so that sugar begins to dissolve.
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While syrup is heating to a boil, roughly rip up mint and basil leaves (by hand, or you can chop with a knife) and throw into the mixture. (Ripping helps release their oils).
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Add fresh dill springs. (leave on stems so they will be easier to filter out later).
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Turn up heat, if necessary, until syrup starts a gentle boil.
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Boil for about 5 minutes.
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Remove from heat and pour mixture (herbs included) into a storage container, and place in fridge to allow herbs to continue to steep.
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Steep for at least one hour (or up to 24 hours).
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Using a fine mesh strainer, strain herbs out of syrup.
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When time to serve your lemonade, combine syrup, lemon juice, 7 to 8 cups water, and ice and stir until well blended.
Recipe Notes
Notes:
This recipe is very flexible with the herb proportions (and pretty much everything else, too). You may adjust the mint and basil to your taste. Mint tends to add a little more sweetness, and basil, a little more robustness (although still subtle). Keep the dill to a minimum. It is just a very light hint to enhance, and you don't want to really notice a distinct flavor there.
Although I have never actually tried, I would not attempt using dried herbs for this drink - USE FRESH!
If using fresh lemons, you may want to add more sugar and/or water to balance it out as some lemons can be very tart. (I don't like to go super-sweet, personally, but this is obviously a personal taste issue again.)
Dress it Down:
If dill scares you, just go ahead and eliminate it.
Substitute for all mint or all basil instead of the combo.
In a time-pinch, you may use the syrup immediately after making it (not steeping the additional time in the fridge). You may want to up the herb amounts a little bit to try to get more flavor in there.