Basil Lemonade

I’m always on the look out for something different…but not silly or simply trendy. This is one of those keeper kind of things. Its a way of making lemonade that, if you like it, you’ll always go to.

I had it first at a small, local restaurant. I thought, Hey this is great, I can make this! And so I did. Here are the instructions for Basil Lemonade.

Fresh Basil is a love of mine. My grand daughter must love it too, she was eating it right off the plant last weekend. It isn’t all that unusual to use Basil in lemonade, after all  Basil is in the Mint family. Basil has that tell-tale square stem that all mints have.  Basil is Lamiaceae ocimum while mint is Lamiaceae mentha. Same genus, different species. Aaaaand since it is a different species it doesn’t cross pollinate in your garden. There’s your science lesson for the day

What Basil does for lemonade though is pretty magical. It smooths it down, mellows it, if you will.  Basil masks the tart, twang at the end of a swallow of lemonade and of course lends its delicious flavor to the drink.

First make your lemonade. You can use Country Time or you can make it from scratch. Here is my From Scratch recipe:

From Scratch Lemonade:

In a small sauce pan bring 1 cup water and 1 3/4 cups white sugar to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar, reduce heat and continue stirring 

until all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature pour into a jar, refrigerate til chilled. Add 1 34 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice.  The syrup is ready to use once it is completely chilled. 

After you’ve made your lemonade using whatever method you like, you’ll need to steep some fresh Basil in it. I use about 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves for every gallon of lemonade. I allow it to steep for at least an hour.   To keep your lemonade cold, you can allow it to steep with the Basil in the frig. 

After it has steeped long enough, you can take out a little and taste it to see if its strong enough, strain the Basil out and serve the Basil Lemonade over ice!