Homemade lemonade
Makes: 2.5 litres cordial, to dilute
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Maja Smend
Homemade lemonade
Makes: 2.5 litres cordial, to dilute
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
See more recipes
Sarah Randell
Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author of Family Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbook among others.
Sarah Randell
Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author of Family Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbook among others.
Ingredients
- 6 lemons, ideally unwaxed
- 1kg granulated sugar
- 50g citric acid
To serve:
- 5 ltr of sparkling water, chilled
- lemon slices
- mint sprigs
Step by step
Get ahead
If stored in sterilised bottles in the fridge, the lemonade will last for at least 2 weeks.
- Wash the lemons, then thinly slice them and put the slices into a large bowl with the sugar and citric acid.
- Pour on 2 litres of boiling water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Cover and then leave in a cool place overnight (you can transfer it to the fridge once it is cold).
- The next day, strain the lemonade through a sieve and discard the lemon slices, then pour the lemonade into sterilised bottles and store them in the fridge.
- To serve, dilute 1 part lemonade to 2 parts chilled sparkling water in a tall tumbler. Add plenty of ice, lemon slices and mint sprigs.
