Late summer and early fall blackberries taste amazing in our recipe for blackberry lemonade! This recipe uses fresh, in-season blackberries and fresh lemons to create a delicious and beautiful drink that's a crowd pleaser.Makes 2 quarts (64 ounces) of lemonade
Juice your lemons and strain out the seeds to make 1¼ cups fresh lemon juice.
Add the fresh lemon juice, the sugar, 1 cup water, and the lemon slices to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the lemon slices start to turn translucent (about 12-15 minutes).
Don't skip the lemon slices in the lemon/sugar mixture! The lemon rinds will add natural lemon oil which adds a wonderful mellow flavor in this lemonade.
While the lemon juice and sugar is cooking, put the blackberries in a blender with 1 cup of cold water and pulse a couple of times until the fruit is broken down.
Pour the blackberry water mixture through a metal strainer to separate the juice from the skins and the seeds. Discard the seeds and set aside the liquid (it will be cloudy).
Once the lemon juice and sugar has finished cooking, turn off the heat and stir in the blackberry juice.
Add 4 cups (1 quart) of ice to a 2 quart pitcher. Pour the lemon/blackberry juice over the ice and add enough cold water to top this off to 2 quarts.
Serve cold with lemon slices to garnish your glass. Enjoy!
Notes
*If you discover after taste-testing your lemonade that you want more sweetness, you can add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup or simple syrup to your lemonade to adjust the sweetness (you won't taste the maple at all if using maple syrup).