Peach Blueberry Lemonade
30 Min
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Peach Blueberry Lemonade

With cold weather in the rear view and balmy summers to look forward to, the edible joys of spring are all around us. From sugar snap peas to fennel to about a dozen varieties of greens, the farmer’s table stands at Urban Harvest farmer’s market are bursting with beautiful produce. Last weekend, I had my first local peach and blueberry sighting of the year.  Lightsey Farms had arrived with their first spring harvest of local plums and peaches and there was another farmer with boxes and boxes of local wild blueberries. I brought them home and turned them into a lightly spiced lemonade of sorts. Growing up in a time and place when local was the only way we ate and drank, I remember my mother buying baskets of plums or apricots during peak summer season and making a variety of sweetened concentrated syrups, called sherbat. She’d puree the fruit at its ripest, sometimes cook it down or other times just strain and combine with sugar and other seasonings and store them in tall bottles. We would add water or club soda to turn them into drinks all year long. My parents would have adult versions with generous splashes of gin or vodka. Here is a gently spiced lemonade to welcome a Texas spring, it’s only lightly sweetened, adjust and spike as needed.

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Cook Time

30 Minutes

Serves

6

Step 1
In a bowl, muddle the blueberries with sugar, lemon juice and salt until they are soft and almost saucy. Refrigerate until ready to make the lemonade.
Step 2
In a small stockpot or saucepan, combine the sugar with water and bring to a boil. Cool. To make the peach lemonade, in a blender on medium to high speed, puree the sugar syrup, peaches (with skin but no pits), ginger, lemon juice, salt, chile, coriander and cardamom until smooth. Strain.
Step 3
To serve the lemonade in tall, chilled pint glasses, spoon the blueberry base into the bottom of each glass. Pour the strained lemonade on top, garnish with mint springs and adjust with ice as needed.

Blueberry Base:

2 cups of blueberries

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Generous pinch of salt

Peach Lemonade:

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups water

5 to 6 cups of cored and chopped ripe peaches with skin on

2-inch piece of fresh unpeeled ginger, roughly chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice

Generous pinch salt

Pinch red chile powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Springs of mint leaves for garnish

Notes & Variations

  • The lemonade can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 to 3 days.
  • The coriander, chile and cardamom add a delicate depth of flavor to the drink, however, feel free to leave them out.
  • Instead of sugar, make a honey syrup by boiling 1/2 cup honey with 2 cups of water.
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30 Min
DF
GF
V

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