Oh yes….. bring it on….. this is just the right thirst quenching answer in what bodes to be the hottest week in England this year. I had completely forgotten how good it is and was reminded when I was in the fortunate position of making a batch for a ‘4th of July barbecue party’. Nestled somewhere between the mini ‘sliders’, that’ll be burgers to you and me, and mini hot dogs, stood a quaint selection of kilner bottles with said lemonade, and the most charming stripey straws money can buy. A complimentary change to the seasonal elderflower cordial that is being made in industrial quantities at home, and unlike the former it does not require citric acid which actually can be a bit of a fiddle to get hold of. Don’t ask me, but my pharmacist seems insistent on asking whether I am using it for drug production… !?! That aside chances are the ingredients for lemonade are probably lurking in your kitchen now.

Lemons, sugar and water, that’s it. How simple, if you make it now it will be ready for drinking tomorrow, possibly in time for afternoon tea. You can play around with the ingredients, add lime, add elderflower, use agave nectar instead of sugar, basically you really can’t go wrong as long as you follow the very simple instructions below. I dilute mine with sparkling water and serve it with fresh sprigs of mint and a few ice cubes. Bottom line is this is easy, takes 10 minutes maximum to make, tastes fantastic and is a good world away from anything you have ever drunk before. It is nostalgia in a bottle; conjuring up memories of the Famous Five, camps, childhood, picnics and lots of adventures. And boy those adventures need sustenance, as the ‘pink’ and ‘blue’ daily demonstrate, trips to the ‘moon’ and ‘Africa’ are seemingly hot, hard work and need refreshments! Roll on the summer holidays and lots more lemonade!

Homemade Lemonade

6 lemons

150gms of granulated sugar

2 1/4 pints of boiling hot water

1. Wash the lemons down. Pare with a good peeler the rind off 3 of the lemons and put in a large bowl or saucepan along with the sugar and the juice of all 6 lemons.

2. Now add the hot water and the sugar, stirring all the time till the sugar dissolves. Cover and leave to cool for 24 hrs.

3. Sieve the lemonade removing the rind and any pips and decant into storage bottles. Store in the fridge till your next picnic, adventure, trip to the ‘moon’ or ‘Africa’ !!!