Lilac Blossom Lemonade

There’s nothing like the taste of perfectly sweet, tart and aromatic homemade Lilac Blossom Lemonade on a hot summer day. Prepared with lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice and an easy-to-prepare lilac-infused granulated sugar, this drink is sure to quench your thirst and wake up your senses!

Lilac Blossom Lemonade should take you right back to your childhood! Well, that’s if your childhood involved homemade lemonade, of course! Mine didn’t. The only lemonade I drank as a young child was the frozen, canned, concentrated type. And, even that wasn’t stocked in our home very often.

When it comes to fruit juices, I don’t remember seeing too much of it. My mom would buy the powdered Kool-Aid and Tang. Those two were the only types of juice we saw much of. Fresh lemons are not something I can ever recall seeing until I was much older. How about you? Do the summers of your youth conjure up memories of freshly squeezed lemonade? Did you have a lemonade stand? I don’t have those memories, so I’m going to make summertime lemonade memories as an adult!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

You will need Lilac Infused Sugar to make this recipe. You can make the lemonade with regular sugar, but the result won’t be quite right. It will still taste delicious, but it won’t have the strong, aromatic lilac scent and flavour intended by the recipe as written. The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Lemon Juice – You will need one and a half cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice. That equates to about 8 whole large lemons.
• Lilac Sugar – Making your own lilac sugar is easy to do. I have the instructions right here. It does take five days to make lilac sugar, so you can use regular granulated sugar if you must. The lemonade will still be delicious, but will not be as flavourful nor as scented as it should be. 
• Water
• Lilacs
• Ice

HOW TO MAKE LILAC BLOSSOM LEMONADE

Add the sugar and water to a saucepan. Over medium-low heat, whisk or stir the sugar into the water until the sugar is completely dissolved. The water does not need to come to a boil! The heat from the burner will encourage the sugar to dissolve completely rather than just whisking the sugar into cold water. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, juice the lemons and strain the juice through a cheesecloth or a sieve to remove the pulp and any seeds. Transfer the lemon juice to a large pitcher. Add the lilac sugar and water mixture and stir well to combine. Refrigerate for a minimum of two hours.

Before serving, add thin lemon slices, ice, and a bunch or two of washed lilac blossoms. Serve and enjoy!

THE IMPORTANCE OF SIMPLE SYRUP

The hardest part of this recipe is making the sugar syrup. It is the process by which the sugar needs to be completely dissolved in water. Failing to do so will result in a grainy lemonade because it can be rather difficult to get so much sugar to dissolve by simply stirring it into cold water. Add heat to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved and incorporated.

The water and sugar are added to a saucepan and whisked together over heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Completely! That’s very important! It doesn’t need to come to a boil. Whenever I make sugar syrup, I never leave the saucepan unattended.

Obviously, if you let the water and sugar mixture come to a boil, it’s going to bubble up and make a mess. But, if you keep the temperature of the burner low, you’ll eliminate that risk. I never leave the saucepan unattended, because as soon as the sugar is dissolved, it’s done! Depending on the coarseness of your sugar, that could take anywhere from 3-5 minutes. Just continuously stir with a whisk until you cannot see any visible granules of sugar in the saucepan. It’s that easy!

HOW TO GET THE MOST JUICE OUT OF YOUR LEMONS

Some might argue that the best way to get all of the juice out of each and every lemon is to use a citrus reamer. They are very inexpensive and even though I have one, it’s not my favourite tool to use. The amount of juice you get out of each lemon will depend on how you juice them. I prefer a juicer over a reamer. You can use an electric juicer or just one that sits on your countertop. Just get one with good ridges.

We have one that looks just like this. I prefer this one because it catches the seeds. If you’re juicing by squeezing the lemons by hand, you might need extra lemons! No matter what type of juicer you’re using, there is one tool that costs zero dollars and will help you to get the most juice possible. It’s the palm of your hand and your upper body strength.

Do this – place the lemon onto your countertop and place your hand firmly on top of it. Roll the lemon forward, pressing down firmly with the ball of your hand. Roll it back and then roll it forward again. Doing this breaks down the flesh of the lemon and as a result, yields more juice.

HOW TO GATHER LILACS

Use pruning sheers to snip clumps of lilacs from your tree. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water and dunk the lilac branches, one at a time. Gently shake the branch under the water and then lift it straight out. Do this several times. Transfer the branch and/or clump to a salad spinner and spin out the excess water. The lilacs may still be a bit damp, but they won’t be impossible to work with. Don’t be tempted to overwash and over-spin in the salad spinner. Lilacs are delicate, so treat them as such.

Here are the suggestions that I have followed. These are suggestions that I have read over the past few years from others who have prepared lilacs to eat. First, only use lilac petals from a tree that you know 100% has not been sprayed or treated with chemicals. Secondly, pick petals from trees that are not close to busy streets or highways. Those petals will be dirty with gas and diesel residue.

Please use pruning shears. Don’t break the branches with your hands or saw at them with a knife. This will damage the tree and you will want the tree to stay healthy for years to come. Oh, it’s also best to harvest the lilacs in the morning before it gets too hot. The petals have more moisture content in the morning.

SEPARATING THE PETALS FROM THE STEMS

So, I know that lilacs look gorgeous spilling out of large vases. And, every year, I have at least two large vases filled with them. But, they are great for baking too! Once you have cut and washed your lilacs, now comes to the tedious part. Removing the petals from the stems is certainly not hard work, but it’s tedious! This is how I do it.

With all of my washed lilac bunches in a large bowl, and a smaller bowl for collecting petals close by, I find a nice shady spot on our back deck. Next, I fetch a cold drink and get ready to harvest. Working with one bunch of lilacs at a time, hold the top of the petal and pull. The purplish-pink petal should be released from the stem. The idea is to leave behind all traces of green. If you get a few bits of green, it won’t do any harm. But, too much will throw off the taste of your recipe.

This process is long and labourious. To make this recipe, you will need one cup of lilac petals, plus another handful for decoration and garnish. That doesn’t seem like much, but it takes some time. You should learn from my mistakes too, because the first time I did this, I did not sit in the shade. I ended up getting a sunburn! When all is said and done, your Lilac Blossom Lemonade will be beautifully fragrant and gently sweet.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!