If you are parched and hot cool down with these quenching homemade summer drinks
Nothing is better on a hot summer day than a chilled, homemade summer drink. Iced tea and lemonade have been summer favorites for decades and are still popular today.
Sweet Tea, popular in the south, is about as refreshing as it gets. It is made by first making a simple syrup and adding it to tea. You can make it plain or add flavoring to it to spice it up.
Syrup for Sweet Tea
4 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
Place sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and stir until the syrup is thickened.
Set aside to cool. You will not use all the syrup to make the tea so store the rest in a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator to make more. The syrup will last 3 to 4 weeks.
To make the tea you will need:
4 cups of water
8 to 10 tea bags
a pinch of baking soda
Boil water in a pan on the stove.
While waiting for it to boil take the tags off the tea bag strings and tie the strings on to a large wooden spoon.
When water boils turn the heat off and put the bags in the water laying the spoon over the pan so that bags hang from it.
Add the pinch of baking soda (this will make the tea less bitter and will make it smooth)
When the tea is dark enough for your taste and still hot remove the tea bags and discard.
Stir in 1 cup of the simple syrup and combine until blended.
Pour the tea into a Quart Pitcher and chill. Pour over ice.
Sun Tea was all the rage several years ago. As the baking soda in the recipe above helps to calm the tannins in the tea the sun does the same for sun tea.
Sun Tea Recipe
A large glass jar
1 gallon cold water
10 tea bags
Fill jar with cold water and put tea bags in letting the strings hang over the lip of the jar.
Secure with the lid. Place in the sun 2 to 4 hours.
Remove tea bags and add sugar or honey to taste or leave it plain.
Old fashioned lemonade is another summer favorite. Use your simple syrup to make this recipe.
Old Fashioned Lemonade Recipe
12 lemons, squeezed
4 cups cold water
1 to 1-1/2 cups simple syrup
Make sure lemons are room temperature before cutting and squeezing. Also roll them on a hard surface first to get the maximum amount of juice from the lemons.
Add lemon juice to water and then add simple syrup and stir.
Chill and pour over ice.
Now the fun part. You can add other ingredients to make different flavors of ice tea and lemonade. Amazingly everything you can add to ice tea tastes just as good in lemonade.
Taste Variations:
Try half a glass of lemonade mixed with half a glass of ice tea. Delicious!
Take some fresh mint and squash it with a wooden spoon at the bottom of the pitcher before adding ice tea or lemonade. You can do the same thing with raspberries or strawberries. Basil done this way tastes interesting in lemonade. Adults usually like it but it tends to be too strong for children as their taste buds are much more sensitive.
Add unsweetened orange juice to either ice tea or lemonade for two different and pleasant flavors.
Add 1 quart of apple juice, pineapple juice, or cranberry juice to a gallon pitcher of ice tea or lemonade for a different punch and enjoyable flavor.
Whether you add anything to your tea or lemonade it will definitely cool you and your family down this summer and any other time of the year.
The copyright of the article How to Make Lemonade and Iced Tea in Recipes is owned by Deborah Harding. Permission to republish How to Make Lemonade and Iced Tea in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
