Secret Ingredient

Living in Indonesia which has only two seasons -- hot and very hot -- makes me crave for a glass of lemonade almost every time. But unfortunately the only successful afternoon to produce a juicy lemonade was yesterday. Nothing can be better than a lemonade in a hot, humid day in May. I've always loved that balance of sweet and sour in a lemonade, makes me realize how perfect the day is.  Plus, the extra lemon zest sinking below the lemonade oozes the lemony scent to the drink. Only wished I had mint leaves added to it.

Secret Ingredient

Lemonade

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water in room temperature

Zest of a one lemon 

1 cup of lemon juice

Mint leaves

± 1-2 cups of cold water

± an inch of ginger root

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar, water, lemon zest and ginger in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Do not reduce the sugar to caramel.

2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.

3  Add 1 - 2 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

4. Serve with ice, sliced lemons and mint leaves.