FRUITY SUMMER LEMONADES

Hot, sunny, summer days are perfect for sipping on

Fruity lemonades are refreshing, icy-cold, and super easy to make. I've tried 2 flavours: sweet-and-sour tangy rhubarb  and tropical sunny pineapple but I am sure you can follow the recipe to make your personal blends.

First, you need to make a fruit syrup.

What you need: 

2 cups cut fruit
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold water
1-2 tbsp grated lemon zest (optional)

What to do: 

• In a small sauce pan combine all the ingredients.  Bring the mix to boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10-15 minutes until fruits are soft. Rhubarb cooked only for 10 minutes while pineapple took closer to 15 minutes. 

• Puree fruits: rhubarb or other soft fruits could be simply smashed with a fork, while pineapple will need a round in a blender. If you want your lemonade to be clear, strain your puree.

Cooked syrup can be stored in a fridge for a couple of weeks.  I am sure you can freeze it as well.

Now it's time to get mixing:

• combine 1 part syrup with 5 parts water and 1/4 part lemon juice (1cup:5cups:1/4cup).

• add sliced lemon and refregirate for a couple of hours.

Serve garnished with fruit slices.  Enjoy outside on a hot summer day.

Happy summer!
Anya

P.S. Inspired by this Canadian Living recipe.

Iced Tea

Inspired by this Martha Stewart recipe I decided to make my own iced tea couple of weeks ago. I wanted it to be refreshing, not too sweet, and unusual. I remembered drinking "Rose petal" white tea at my friend's house. The drink had a slight rose flavor and a rather interesting aftertaste of ... dried coriander. I would not lie, the first sip was rather peculiar but after a while the herby taste grew on me.
Armed with this idea I got my white tea bags ready (you can use loose leave tea - I was just very lazy that day).

Refreshing Iced T

the recipe is good for approximately a liter of tea. Feel free to adjust the amount of sugar and lemon according to your taste

2 white tea bags
1/2 of the lemon, thinly sliced
~4 tbsp of brown sugar
2 springs of basil, leaves removed
3 springs of cilantro (for those of you who can't stand cilantro, substitute it with fresh mint)
1 litre of water

Boil water.
Thinly cut half of the amount of basil and cilantro.
Put all the ingredients, apart from sugar and water, in a tea infuser (if your teapot does not have one you can simply put the ingredients in your tea pot. Do not forget to pour your tea into a different pot once it's ready).
Pour hot water and add sugar. Mix everything well and let steep for 15-20 minutes.
If you don't like your tea too strong you can remove the tea bags but keep the herbal mix for longer.
Remove the infuser and refrigerate the tea until cold.