Cherry Lemonade Concentrate

When I was in LA this summer we visited my family. My aunt had made a cherry lemonade concentrate which was the perfect mocktail. With this recipe, you can add the concentrate to lemonade, sprite, sparkling water, etc. I prefer adding it to sparkling water.

A couple weeks ago it was the hottest it has ever been where I live. I decided to make the concentrate and might have added a little too much lemon juice but it still was very refreshing.

The recipe from my aunt is as follows:

Place I cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan with a few pitted cherries and the rind from one lemon. Boil for 5 minutes then let cool. The juices come out as they boil. Throw in a few berries so you get the color you are probably looking for.

Freshly squeeze 1 cup of lemon juice and add it to the sugar syrup. That is the concentrate. Add a few tablespoons of the concentrate to a cup with ice and add water, bubbly water or 7 up to make a refreshing drink.

You can also add whatever berries you have on hand for cherry-berry lemonade. A few springs of mint can also be added when you boil the water and sugar.