Limonata (Italian Lemonade)

Italian Lemonade in a pitcher with mint leaves.

5 from 1 vote

Try this traditional Italian Lemonade (Limonata) - the most delicious, fragrant and flavorful lemonade you’ve ever made. Super easy to prepare, you’ll be making it all summer long - guaranteed!

Prep Time5

Resting Time30

Total Time35

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Calories: 124kcal

Author: Svi

Ingredients

4 organic lemons
8 tablespoon sugar
Sparkling water or soda water
Handful fresh mint leaven or basil leaves (optional)

Instructions

Option 1 (recommended) Prepare Lemon Concentrate using a Citrus Squeezer & a Zester

Wash lemons under cold running water and scrub them gently with a brush to remove any impurities.
Zest all lemons using a microplane zester. Grate only the yellow part of the skin and avoid grating the white pith which will make lemonade bitter.
Add granulated sugar and torn mint leaves.
Mix everything well applying pressing and squeezing motion to extract the most flavor.
Let sit 30 minutes or more (macerate).
Squeeze lemon juice from zested lemons and add to sugar and zest mix. Stir well.
Strain the mix using a strainer.

Option 2. Prepare Lemon Concentrate using a Food Processor

Wash lemons under cold running water and scrub them gently with a brush to remove any impurities.
Using a vegetable peeler peel only the yellow part and add it to the food processor.
Using a sharp knife remove all the white pith around lemons. It’s super important to remove as much of it as possible since this is what make lemonade bitter!
Cut lemons in quarters and remove all the seeds.
Add lemon quarters to the lemon peels together with fresh mint leaves and sugar.
Pulse until smooth. Add a few ice cubes or a little bit of water to help everything blend better.
Let the mix sit for 30 minutes than strain.

Assemble Lemonade

Store Limonata mix (concentrate) in a pitcher.
When ready to serve, fill half of a glass with ice, add about ⅓ of a glass lemonade mix and top everything with soda water.

Notes

See the Step By Step Pictures for a visual walk-through of the recipe.

How to Adjust Servings

As a rule of a thumb, for sweet tasting lemonade with just the perfect tartness use 2 tablespoons of sugar for each medium size lemon. You can always adjust sugar to taste.

You'll need whole lemon for a single serving of Limonata. Considering this you can adjust the proportions accordingly.

Top Tips

Wash and scrub lemons skin. Since lemon zest is one of the key ingredients, make sure to wash and scrub lemon skin to remove any impurities.

If using a food processor remove as much white pith as possible to avoid bitterness.

Let macerate. To extract the most flavor and aroma let lemon zest, sugar and mint mix sit for at least 30 minutes.

Assemble right before serving. For the most bubbly lemonade, store the lemonade mix in a pitcher and pour in glasses following sparkling or soda water right before serving.

Nutrition