Photo by D Sharon Pruitt
Making your own lemonade is really the perfect example of insourcing. The process is simple, and the outcome is deliciously refreshing. As you can see, this example fits our philosophy so closely that we decided to use a lemon in our logo.
I have fond memories of enjoying homemade lemonade at least one day a year, July 4th, at the annual Anderson family reunion (during which my home town’s population nearly doubles). My grandfather makes multiple 5-gallon jugs of lemonade every year, and the family reunion wouldn’t be the same without this simple yet refreshing concoction.
The list of ingredients for homemade lemonade is rather obvious: lemon juice (preferably from fresh squeezed lemons), sugar, ice, and water. The magic lies in determining the perfect proportions of the ingredients to produce a cold yet undiluted, sweet yet sour summer elixir.
Squeezing the Lemons
There are a few options here depending on how much lemonade you’re making, as well as how often. I have a cheap, simple juicer like this one that serves me well for occasional use. I prefer it over a simple lemon squeezer because it keeps the seeds out of your lemon juice. If you’re really fancy you can opt for an automatic juicer like this one.
The Ingredients
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- (almost) 2 quarts cold water
The Recipe
- Combine the sugar and lemon juice into a paste.
- Fill a 2-quart pitcher 1/3 full of ice cubes.
- Add the paste to the pitcher and fill it up with water.
- For extra flavor, add some lemon rinds into the mix as well. However, be aware that the rinds may cause bitterness if the lemonade isn’t used right away.
- Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- For a little extra flair, add thinly sliced lemons to the glasses.
Serve for a refreshing summer beverage! Feel free to multiply out the recipe if you’d like to make more than a couple of quarts.
OUTSOURCERS: Buy powdered lemonade mix, frozen lemonade concentrate, or pre-bottled lemonade.
INSOURCERS: Buy fresh lemons and sugar. Make a delicious concoction from scratch.
6 Comments
For a lower calorie option, I recently purchased a box of Splenda, and they have the recipe for lemonade conveniently printed on the box. Not as conveniently, I think it takes about 24 packets of Splenda.
Last summer I spent a large portion of a day weed whacking hydro-lines. Like an idiot, I forgot to bring some fluids with me so I was pretty damn thirsty but the time I got back. To my surprise a beam of sunlight shown down from the Heavens onto a little girl. She had set up a lemonade stand right next to the truck. Ditching the weed whacker I started running to her when I happened upon a ten dollar bill on the ground. I snatched it up, gave her all ten dollars (she was little and trying to earn money to see Kenny Chesney at the state fair) and drank the biggest cup of lemonade in my life. It was delicious. It was insourced.
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Jimbo - I think splenda comes in bulk sizes too. Maybe? Though it is kind of silly that the recipe is on the box of packets.
Jesse - such a charming story about the little girl. I’m sure that made her day! I remember thinking $10 was so much money.
BTW, I’m not sure how legit this is, but just because Splenda is “more nutritious” than sugar, it might not necessarily be better for the body. [http://www.splendaexposed.com/]
Though I may be biased and just really want to enjoy my pure, calorie-infested sugar.
In regards to the health aspects of lemonade…
Lemonade surprisingly does a lot of good for a body. It can effectively quench thirst. It can help with difficulty in urination, vomiting, or problems with diarrhea and liver diseases. A liberal consumption of lemonade can cure foul smell due to profuse sweating.
[http://www.4to40.com/health/index.asp?id=198&fitness_tips=Lemonade]
CBS even did a full report on the use of lemonade to help reduce the chances of developing kidney stones.
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/24/health/webmd/main1653742.shtml]
… but there are health concerns with lemonade too. Celebrities often talk of the “lemonade diet” as a quick and easy way to lose weight, but in reality its more of a detoxing agent then anything else.
[http://searchwarp.com/swa272695.htm]
I just made 2 quarts of this delicious drink. I squeezed the juice from only two lemons and was surprised to get 1/2 cup of juice. I decided to see how 1/2 would work instead of the 2/3 cup from the recipe, and it’s not bad.
It’s a bit sweet with the 1 cup of sugar, so maybe next time I’ll try the 1/2 cup lemon juice with 3/4 cup of sugar for a weaker lemonade. The kind of lemonade that you can drink a lot of when the summer sun causes you to break a sweat.
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