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Plain Lemonade
Three or four lemons, according to size, and a small cup of sugar to a quart of water. Slice the lemons into the water beforehand, and let stand. Put shaved ice in the glasses before filling.
Clear lemonade can be obtained by filtering it, when made, through blotting paper folded to fit in a glass funnel.
A straightforward proportion that still works, with one nineteenth-century flourish worth ignoring.
- The proportionA quart is 4 cups water. A "small cup" of sugar is an indefinite measure, somewhere short of a full modern cup; taken at that it gives a fairly sweet drink by modern taste, so start with half and adjust after the lemons have steeped.
- Slicing rather than juicingSlicing whole lemons into the water extracts oil from the peel along with the juice, which is what gives this version its perfume. It also extracts bitterness from the pith if left too long. An hour in the refrigerator is ample; overnight turns it harsh.
- Sugar will not dissolve in cold waterSugar dissolves slowly in cold water -- The original assumes you will stir and wait. Dissolving the sugar in a cup of hot water first, then adding the rest cold, saves grit at the bottom of the pitcher.
- Skip the blotting paperPeriod blotting paper was typically unsized rag stock, and modern blotting and filter papers are not sold as food-contact materials. A fine sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, or a coffee filter, clears the drink just as well.
- Shaved ice in the glassThe recipe puts the ice in the glass rather than in the pitcher. Shaved ice melts fast and dilutes; if you chill the lemonade itself, use larger cubes.
- YieldA quart serves three to four over ice, or two if the glasses are generous.
Lemonade of this kind — fruit, sugar, water, no carbonation — is the older sense of the word, and in American cookbooks of the later nineteenth century it sits among the invalid drinks and summer beverages as much as among the refreshments. Confectioners and bakery-attached soda fountains sold cold drinks over the same counter as cake, and a clear, bright lemonade was a display item.