GINGER LEMONADE

Day 3 of our heatwave and for the second day in a row, I'm blogging a drinks recipe. When the warm weather stikes, I just want ALL the liquids... who else is with me on this. Honestly, my number one summer activity is rehydrating. I’m flat out moisturising and drinking all sorts of refreshing drinks. And in my book, the more options you have to hand, the better. If you follow my Instagram you will know of my struggle to find a wine that won’t give me a hangover after two mouthfuls (a problem shared and all that). The struggle is ongoing but leaving that aside, I'm all for non-alchocol drinks that taste good!! And is it even summer if you aren't drinking some sort of lemonade concoction. There are so many tasty lemonades on the market now, so that’s one option. The other is make your own and you really only need five minutes spare to do it... start your DIY lemonade with this yummy Ginger Lemonade.

The bonus in making my own is you get to decide how much sugar to put in. I thought this one was perfectly sweet – you can taste the tartness of the lemon and the heat of the ginger as much as you can taste the sugar. One of my samplers thought it could do with a little more sugar, but I’m putting that down to them having a crazy sweet tooth. Anyway you decide and if you wat to add more sugar, work away.

I have a healthy habit for a warm homemade ginger and lemon tea concoction that I make myself first thing every morning and last thing at night. I've thought about making a cold version of it before, kinda like an iced tea but didn't get round to it. Then I saw Rachel Allen's recipe for a lime and ginger 'lemonade' in the Sunday Independent yesterday and I thought I'd adapt it and made a lemon and ginger version. So here it is a summer adaptation of my regular ginger and lemon concoction with a little Rachels recipe thrown in aswell. Scroll on for the recipe for this refreshing and delicious Ginger Lemonade xx

Ginger Lemonade

(serves 6-8)

Ingredients

½ cup coconut sugar

½ cup water

3 lemons

½ inch thumb of fresh ginger

Sparkling water and Ice

Method

Start by making the syrup. Place the coconut sugar, water, the zest of the three lemons and the finely grated ginger in a saucepan. Heat over a medium heat constantly stirring until it comes to the boil. Allow it to boil for two minutes before removing it from the heat. Set it aside to cool.

Once cooled, drain it though a fine sieve to remove the lemon zest and ginger pieces. Add the juice of the three lemons to the syrup.

When ready to serve, add ice cubes to a jug and then add your ginger and lemon syrup. Top up with sparkling water. Use as much or as little sparkling water as you wish, depending on how concentrated you would like your lemonade. Serve immediately or store in a glass bottle in the fridge.

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