Limonata or Italian Lemonade is a cafe favorite all over Italy. It’s the perfect sipping beverage on a hot, hot afternoon, best enjoyed from an umbrelled cafe table while watching the world go by! Lemons are plentiful all over Italy, coming in from nearby Amalfi coastal towns. Bartenders quickly make it by the glass using Basil-flavored Simple Syrup, fresh lemon juice and sparkling soda water. Limonata’s sweet-tart flavor makes Miss Party’s lips pucker uncontrollably, but it’s so good she can’t stay away! If you want to get a quick idea of what it tastes like, try San Pellegrino’s “Limonata”. It’s a delicious pre-bottled version, available in European and US grocery stores in cans or 6 pack of bottles, or in US deli’s and cafes.
There are times you want the most authentic rendition of something you can make, and other times you must, for practicality’s sake, forego some quality because of the quantity needed. Miss Party never suggests anyone be a Party Martyr! Do what makes sense for the number of guests or type of guests you will be serving. Twenty-five or thirty kids or teens aren’t going to give a wit that you made homemade Simple Syrup and lovingly squeezed the lemons by hand until you thought you might have developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!
Save time and effort by using bottled lemon juice (readily available in a ‘made from concentrate’ version, or in a ‘not from concentrate, organic’ version at gourmet grocery stores) and save the authentic Limonata for your next dinner party or maybe as a non-alcoholic, pre-cocktail offering to guests arriving for your next summer cocktail party. If you’re making Limonata for kids or teens, Miss Party recommends omitting the basil from your Simple Syrup, or make the recipe even easier by using frozen lemonade to make your lemonade base.
Limonata done the freshest and most traditional way:
2 cups lemon juice (10-12 lemons or use bottled lemon juice, see above suggestions)
2 cups Basil Simple Syrup (need 1 bunch of washed, fresh basil added as you are cooking the Simple Syrup then removed/strained out prior to cooling the Syrup)
2 cups water
2 liter bottle of sparkling soda water
1-2 lemons sliced thinly for floating on the surface
1) Combine the lemon juice, Basil Simply Syrup and water and chill in the refrigerator, along with your bottle of soda water, for several hours.
2) Just prior to serving, slowly add the soda water to your mixture and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the lemon slices and serve.
Variation: The Basil does add a particular flavor and can be omitted, if preferred. You could also make a Lemon or Lemon-Lime Simple Syrup to add more lemon flavor or an unflavored Simple Syrup all using the same Simple Syrup recipe as above.
Limonata ‘Punch’ (non-alcoholic) done the easy way for a crowd:
1 can frozen lemonade, prepared as directed
1/2 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
1 2 liter bottle of lemon-lime soda
1-2 lemons sliced thinly for floating on the surface
Beautiful photos and this sounds downright heavenly!
Thanks, the cafe was down a pretty alley off the Campo dei Fiori piazza in Rome, Italy. If you get around to trying Limonata, Iet me know how you like it!