In California, strawberries are grown and available year-round. So while you can enjoy them in the winter, they just don’t seem to belong in anything but pies and desserts with chocolate.

But it was so sunny and hot this week that when my mom suggested we make a batch of strawberry lemonade from the stockpile of homegrown lemons she brought us this past weekend – I couldn’t resist!

Strawberry Lemonade for Spring

[adapted from a recipe from Nugget Markets]

1 pint strawberries (hulled and quartered)

¾ cup fresh lemon juice (about 6-8 lemons)

1 cup sugar

4 cups water

Preparation

1. Make simple syrup with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Stir the mixture until it reaches a steady boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and continue stirring until the until the sugar is dissolved completely. Remove from heat and let it cool

2. Roll all of the lemons on the counter for 5-10 seconds, and then microwave them for 30 seconds. Squeeze lemons (by hand or with a juicer) to get 3/4 cup lemon juice. Strain.

3. Puree the strawberries in a food processor. Use a fine mesh strainer and push through the strawberry puree to remove large chunks and most of the seeds. (warning – this takes some time and 5 minutes of good effort – but it’s all so worth it in the end!)

4. Combine the lemon juice, strawberry puree, simple syrup and 3 cups of water (2.5 if you’re going to be using lots of ice in the cups). Stir well and serve over ice.

*For the adults you can add 8 oz. vodka to the mixture. I can tell you that a little bit of vanilla vodka really goes well in this drink!