I think you can substitute Honey for Sugar, but I'm not sure what ratio... last time I just made some stab at it. But if you're using hot water to begin with, this isn't so big a deal.

I find that this classic recipe is greatly enhanced with just one capful of pure lemon extract. That little bit of lemon "oomph" covers a multitude of sins if you have not terribly flavorful lemons. I frequently hear "My Lemonade never tastes as intense as yours." Now you know why.

If you use a vegetable peeler and peel a few thin sections of some lemons befor you squeeze them you can add this to the sugar and hot water to seep for a few minutes this gives more depth of flavour.

Is it possible to use raw cane sugar?

Good point to add: 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water makes a syrup that you can use for all sorts of purposes. If you make sure you simmer it just long enough for the sugar and water molecules to bond, it'll keep on the shelf for a while. Add any extract to make a syrup for adding to other drinks (vanilla, for example). It's a trick I learned working in an ice cream store.

Wow! You made my day with this recipe.

What's more, lemonade is a healthy & tasty, yet cheap drink, compared to a commercial junk like sprite/fanta/you-name-it. Way to go!

I'm Vietnamese and have fond memories of my mom making me "lemonade". Vietnamese "lemonade" is actually made with lime and seltzer water, and is really called Soda Chanh. I make it by squeezing half of a lime into a large glass, spooning sugar in until it becomes gritty yet syrupy, then adding seltzer water and of course ice. Its delicious and very easy to make.

Made lemonade to sell at a gala, fundraising for a public pool for Waiheke this past weekend. It was a great hit, on a hot day.

I used your proportions Elise, but this time used Donna Hay's method. Her idea is to mix the sugar and the lemon juice to make the simple syrup. Bottled the lemon syrup and used chilled soda water to dilute it.

Thanks for the idea.

This works very well! I tried it and it tasted AWESOME! If a 12 year-old can make it, anyone can. I love simple and tasy recipes =)

We were recently at a garden dinner party on a very warm evening. The hostess made a pitcher of lemonade and served it as a cocktail by adding a small amount of vodka to each glass. It was a delicious and refreshing accompanyment to the appetizers that were being served!

This is seriously the most simple most delicious lemonade recipe! It is easy enough for the kids to make it for their lemonade stands.

It also makes a very refreshing adult drink. Add vodka, or even make lemonade-margaritas with Tequila and Gran Marnier. They were both a hit at our last BBQ.

If you add half a cup of fresh raspberries that you have mushed up you have a really tasty raspberry lemonade.

This sounded like a great recipe, so I decided to try it. But, when I squeezed the lemon juice, I only had 2/3 of a cup. So I got creative and added 1/3 cup of strawberry juice. Then I followed the recipe, as you put. It ended up coming out quite well.

We can also add some mint leaves to our prepared lemonade or we can crush few leaves and add to the lemonade. It's more refreshing. I usually have mine with a pinch of rock salt and a dash of black pepper.

I absolutely loved this recipe. I added 5 cups of cold water instead of 4, and it came out perfect. It was just the right combination. It was very, very easy for me to make and was well worth it.

Wow.. Just in reading this recipe... I can't wait to get out of work and to the grocery store to make some refreshing, homemade lemonade! Just out of curiousity, will LIMES do? or half and half?

Limes work great, or half limes and half lemons. ~Elise

Dear Elise
I usually make lemonde for about 7 or 8 people. In addition to sugar (1 tbsp.per glass dissolved in hot water, then cooled before adding lemon juice), the juice and the solids (that are scraped off while juicing), I grate one of the lemons and add the grated peel to the mixture. The grated peel is not dominant but adds a tang or "bite" to the taste. This is utterly delicious and shoulds be served only to special and deserving company.

Pretty hot day today and felt like drinking some fresh lemonade.
The method is great and I think the measures are good, although I found it a little too sweet... But then again, I tasted it right before putting it in the fridge. Will see in 30 minutes.
Thanks :)

Elise-
I am in charge of a lemonade sale for a community fundraiser in a few weeks. We want to prepare about 300 servings. We will use 16oz. cups, but serve about 12oz. of the lemonade over ice. Any suggestions about how to scale up your recipe. I plan on spending the day before, squeezing lemons and making simple syrup. Any ideas on how to "fancy it up". There is desire by some to embellish and charge a bit more. Personally, I love it plain and simple, but I will keep an open mind

Thanks for any help---Rose

Hi Rose, your guess is as good as mine on the scaling. I would make more than you think you might need of the lemon juice and the simple syrup. Keep them separate. That way, if you have leftovers, you can freeze the concentrated lemon juice, and the simple syrup lasts a long time in the fridge. For something extra special, grate the lemon zest and add it to the simple syrup as you are cooking the syrup. Strain it out before using. That will give your lemonade an extra lift. Also add some fresh mint leaves to glasses or the serving pitchers. ~Elise

I want to make lemonade to sell at a fundraising event and was wondering how far in advance could I make up this lemonade. Will it keep for a few weeks?

No, the lemonade as made will not keep for a few weeks. If you want to make ahead, I suggest juicing the lemons and freezing the juice, and making the simple syrup, and keeping that refrigerated. The put it together the day before your event. ~Elise

This was great! I was at a local farmers market and my friend paid $3.00 for lemonade that tasted exactly like this one!

What if you already have sugar syrup from the super market?

Use it; it saves you a step. The proportions you will have to mix to taste. ~Elise

I love this recipe, I also added some lemon peel and fresh mint into the syrup mixture. Delicious!

That recipe worked pretty well.
I loved it!
jackie♥

Really hot day so decided to make this recipe, very delicious and refreshing and easy to make. Thanks!

This was a wonderful recipe. Not too sour, not too sweet. I used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of the full cup, and it came out perfect! Thanks!

Hello! Our twins are 5 yrs old and they were
watching a show on abc channel "Olivia"
and she was making lemonade.I took them
with a list to the shops and we picked up the
ingredients.I made the simple syrup
and the twinnies did the rest.
Its in the refrigerator at the moment for
minutes to chill.
We had a taste first and "Yummy".

I tried it to and loved it.
sooo easy to make.

thank you
Warm Tasmania

Perfect! So easy to make...I made it for all our friends and neighbors. We had hundreds of lemons and no idea what to do with them. Thank you!

I have seven citrus trees in my yard, including a lemon. I normally use about one lemon a month, and I am overrun with these things! I'm going to try your lemonade recipe soon, and if it comes out as well as everyone says it is, I think I will be making and freezing a bunch of it to save for summer!

If you are planning to freeze, I suggest freezing the lemon juice only (will take up less room in your freezer), in 1-cup sized containers. That way anytime you want some lemonade, you can defrost a cup of lemon juice and easily make the lemonade. ~Elise

Thank you for this quick recipe. My son and I had a great time making it together.

My son and I really loved making this for his bball party on Sat. It's so easy! We had some and it's fantastic. I can't wait to blend some with mint on a hot summers day...

Hi. I just wanted to say I tried your recipe and loved it. I was wondering if you have ever tried adding strawberries to it to make strawberry lemonade? Thanks so much.

Haven't tried it, but it sounds great! ~Elise

I know you already have got a lot of comments on this, but your recipe is amazing! I just tried it and the lemonade tastes fantastic. Thank you very much.

I made this recipe 5 minutes ago, and I tried a little bit before putting it in the fridge. Delicious! I can't wait to drink it after the lemonade cools down!

This is an excellent recipe. I just made two bottles of it. I found that if you use powdered sugar instead of granulated, there is sweetness when you first drink it then it finishes off when you swallow with a bit of bitter lemon taste. I just thought that was cool.

I've made a committment to wean myself off of diet soda and I'm not that crazy about just plain water. This Lemonade recipe is very good. I made it last night, let it chill when I went to bed and had it this morning. Great great recipe. I'll be putting some in a water bottle to take to the beach this summer.

I made the first batch with regular sugar so that's kinda fattening. Anyone have any luck with sweet n low or stevia?

Jess - great idea on the Limoncello, I'm definitely trying that one.

Elise - thanks for the tip on the extract - I will be buying some today.

For a nice twist add a dash of rose water. It adds a refreshing aroma and flavor that complement the sour lemon. You can even reduce the sugar a little.

It's pretty good but we ended up adding way more lemon juice than sugar water. I guess everyone has different taste. We's likes ours sour. We don't know nuthin 'bout growin citrus.

Yep, it's all a matter of personal taste. And the lemons. Late in the season lemons are less sour than early in the season. Meyers are sweeter than regular lemons. Some people like things sweet, others tart. ~Elise

Thanks for the truly "perfect" recipe. With hot days finally upon us and a hand full of lemons and limes sitting in the refrigerator, I googled your recipe. I wanted to show our children that lemonade comes neither from a carton nor from powder. It worked out perfectly.

Really good! My son inspired me to make this and although he did not like it (picky boy!) the girls in the family did!

Any suggestions for making this diabetic friendly? Do you think we could substitute the sugar with splenda??

Nice recipe! I like to make the lemonade less diluted, then pour it in a big glass of crushed ice. The ice dilutes it as it melts, and after the lemonade is gone, you can eat the lemon flavored ice like a snowcone!

Wayyyy too syrupy. Lots of damage control with this recipe.

Sounds like you needed to add more water. ~Elise

Tomorrow I'm planning to make a lemonade stand and I'm using little dixie cups. How much should each little dixie cup be? should it be $0.50 or $0.25 or $0.75 or a $1.00? I want to get a lot of custumers and I want to make a reasonable price.

p.s.it's so delicious!

If it's just a little dixie cup I would say a quarter each. Who would be willing to pay more than a quarter for a dixie cup full of lemonade? Maybe 50 cents, depending on how big those cups are. ~Elise

Just wanted to let you know that we made this recipe yesterday with calamondins (small sour oranges) instead of using lemons and it came out terrific. Thanks for posting this really simple recipe.

I loved this recipe. Our neighbor gave us some lemons from his lemon tree; after my husband just bought me a batch of lemons from the store. I use lemon slices in my iced tea every day. This recipe was quick and easy.

I made this recipe using:

6 large meyer lemons from our garden (juiced by hand)
26 ounces of water
8 teaspoons of organic brown sugar
4 sachets of Stevia

I boiled up the water and added the sugar and Stevia, stirring until fully dissolved.

I added the lemon juice and stirred.

I poured the liquid mix into two 16 ounce old tomato sauce jars, popped in 2 lemon rind peels (more for aesthetics than anything else really!), screwed the tops on and popped them in the fridge.

DELICIOUS!

Less sugar = healthier I guess!

Enjoy!