How do I make lemonade and cordials?
Homemade lemonade and fruit cordials, the sugar-to-acid balance that makes them taste right, and how long they keep.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Make a syrup of equal weights sugar and water, cool it, then add fresh lemon juice to taste — roughly one part juice to one part syrup to four parts water. Cordials are the same principle concentrated, and both keep about two weeks refrigerated.
Homemade lemonade is a syrup, an acid and water, and the whole skill is balancing the first two. Sugar without enough acid tastes flat and cloying; acid without enough sugar is sharp. Tasting as you dilute is the only reliable method.
What you'll need
- Lemons or other fruit
- Sugar
- Water
- Juicer
- Sieve
- Sterilised bottles (optional)
Step by step
- Make a sugar syrup: equal weights of sugar and hot water, stirred until clear.Hot water dissolves the sugar; you do not need to boil it. Let it cool completely.
- Juice the lemons and strain out the pips and pulp.Roughly six lemons gives about 200ml of juice.
- Combine syrup and juice, then dilute with cold water, tasting as you go.Start around 1 part juice, 1 part syrup, 4 parts water. Adjust from there — this is the whole technique.
- Add a pinch of salt.It sharpens the fruit flavour noticeably without tasting salty. A standard trick in commercial soft drinks.
- Chill thoroughly before serving.Cold dulls sweetness, so a mix that tastes right at room temperature will taste flat when chilled. Balance it cold.
- For a cordial, use less water so it is concentrated, and increase the sugar.Higher sugar concentration is what preserves it. Dilute to taste at serving.
- For herb or flower cordials, infuse the hot syrup and strain once cool.Elderflower, mint, basil, ginger and lemon verbena all work well.
- Bottle in clean bottles and refrigerate.About two weeks for a diluted lemonade, longer for a high-sugar cordial. Discard if it turns cloudy or fizzy.
Tips
- Rolling lemons firmly on the worktop before juicing releases noticeably more juice.
- Adding some of the zest to the hot syrup and straining it out gives a much more aromatic result than juice alone.
- For a sparkling version, make it slightly stronger and top with sparkling water at serving.
Common mistakes
- Balancing the drink at room temperature — Cold suppresses sweetness. A mix balanced warm tastes flat and sour when chilled.
- Adding sugar directly rather than as syrup — Granulated sugar does not dissolve in a cold liquid and sinks to the bottom.
- Skipping the salt — A pinch measurably sharpens fruit flavour. It is the difference between homemade and shop-bought character.
Questions people ask
How long does homemade lemonade keep?
About two weeks refrigerated for a diluted drink. A concentrated cordial with a higher sugar content keeps longer. Discard anything that turns cloudy or starts to fizz.
What is the right ratio for lemonade?
Start at roughly one part lemon juice, one part sugar syrup and four parts water, then adjust to taste — and taste it chilled, since cold suppresses sweetness.