Lemonade stand recipe ingredients
- 8 lemonsFirm, heavy for their size, yellow all over. Heavy means juicy.
- 1 cup of sugarPlain white sugar dissolves cleanest.
- 7 cups of waterOne warm, for the syrup. Six cold, for the pitcher.
- IceFor the cups. A bag from the store, in a cooler.
That makes one big pitcher, about eight cups. For a whole stand day, multiply everything by the number of pitchers; the batch guide has it worked out for 20, 40 and 80 cups.
The pitcher, step by step
- Make the syrup1 cup of sugar in 1 cup of warm water, stirred until clear. Let it cool.
- Squeeze the lemons8 lemons for a big pitcher, rolled hard on the counter first so they give up more juice. Strain the seeds, keep the pulp if you like it.
- Put it togetherSyrup, lemon juice, then 6 cups of cold water. Stir. Taste. Too sharp? A splash more water. Too flat? Another lemon.
- Chill itIn the fridge an hour, or overnight. Ice goes in the cup, not the pitcher.
That is a pitcher of about eight big cups. For a stand, make the syrup in one big batch and mix pitchers from it all day.
Sweet enough, not syrupy
The mistake is sugar straight into cold water; it sinks and the top of the pitcher tastes sour while the bottom tastes like candy. Syrup first fixes that. If a grown-up says it is too sweet and a kid says it is perfect, you have it right for a stand.
Keeping it cold
Two pitchers: one pouring, one in the fridge. Ice in a cooler, with the scoop inside the cooler. Fill the cup with ice, then pour. Never let the pitcher sit in the sun; a towel over it between customers helps.
The one special flavor
Mash a handful of strawberries in the bottom of the pitcher before the water goes in. Or a spoon of peach or blackberry jam in the warm syrup. Or a few mint leaves bruised in each cup. One of these, not all of them, and say it on the sign. A special flavor is the easy way to mark National Lemonade Day on August 20.
A lemonade stand recipe kids can make
Most of this recipe is a kid’s job. Split it like this:
- Kid jobsRolling the lemons, squeezing, stirring the syrup once it has cooled, measuring the water, tasting, and pouring at the stand.
- Grown-up jobsCutting the lemons, warm water on the stove, and lifting a full pitcher.
A kid who made the lemonade can say so on the sign and to every customer, and that sells more cups than any flavor. Once it is made, the lemonade stand prices guide works out what to charge for it.
New to running a stand? The Starter Kit shows how to start a lemonade stand, and the lemonade stand permit rules in Oklahoma are one short read.