Limeade

One of the blessings of living in Southern California is the abundance of citrus trees that are around. This is our neighbor's lime tree that hangs over our fence. My son is getting ready to pick a few limes.

We had quite the harvest that day.

We have an electric Black & Decker Handy Juicer that makes the juicing fun and easy.

After we are done squeezing the juice, I put the juice into little 5 1/2 oz or 3 1/2 oz containers that I get at Smart and Final. Then I put the containers in the freezer to use for a future time when a need a little lime juice for my summer fruit, my homemade salsa, or in other recipes. (I wrote in permeant marker on the top of the container the name of the juice and the date)

My friend gave us a big box of their citrus fruit the other day. By the time I was done juicing what was in the box, I had 1 gallon of fresh juice. I went searching for another way to store all my citrus juice. I ran across this recipe webpage for engineers.

www.cookingforengineers.com

Having a brother and a couple of brother-in-laws who are engineers, I found this site pretty funny. Click here for their recipe for limeade.

Below is my simplified version of their recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup lime juice (squeezed from limes)

Lime juice consecrate:

Make a simple syrup by heating 1-1/2 cup water and 1-1/2 cup granulated sugar. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture has turned clear. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup of lime juice to the simple syrup.

Now you have limeade concentrate. You can refrigerate this or even freeze it into ice cube trays or containers for a cup of instant limeade whenever you want. I put some of the the concentrate in 2 cup containers for larger servings and the rest in 5 1/2 oz containers for single servings. On top of the lids, I wrote with a marker: 1 part juice, 2 part water

Limeade:

To convert the limeade concentrate into limeade, simply add two cups of water for each cup of concentrate. (Another way to think of it is: one part concentrate to two parts water) If you desire a little less tartness and sweetness, just add an addition half cup of water to the mixture.

Here are some more recipes for lime drinks:

Sparkling Limeade

1/2 cups granulated sugar or more, to taste
1 1/2 cups freshly-squeezed lime juice
1 quart sparkling water

Beginning with the 1/2 cup sugar, add to the lime juice and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the sparkling water, stir and taste for sweetness; add more sugar if needed. Pour over ice to serve.

Strawberry Limeade

1/2 cup lime juice
2 cups cold water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 (10 ounce) package frozen strawberries, thawed
5 ice cubes

Put all ingredients except 5 ice cubes in blender container; cover and run at high speed until smooth.

Meanwhile, while blender is running, add ice cubes one at a time.

Makes 6 servings.