“blue” lemonade – a recipe!

I just got done last weekend helping to plan and organize a bridal shower for my good friend, Julia, who’s getting married next month. I crafted lots of things, made a few goodies, and managed to pull off a decent shower with the help of the other bridesmaids. Yay us!

One of the things I wanted to make was a blue drink – our loose theme was just to do everything in the colors of the wedding – blue and white – and I couldn’t think of any good drinks to make. Google never lets me down though and I found a recipe to create some blue lemonade – how perfect could that be! And it didn’t involve food coloring so I thought it would be a nice addition to the afternoon.

And let me tell you, it was delicious! There was only one problem though…

The lemonade wasn’t even remotely blue! The recipe calls for adding blueberries and blackberries – which I followed – and yet, I got red lemonade and not a shade of blue. The pitcher in the middle is actually purple because I added a drop of blue food coloring to it, which as you know, red + blue = purple. Ah well. I wonder if only using blueberries would yield the blue color I was actually looking for? I will be experimenting since we have frozen blueberries in the freezer and more lovely lemons on our tree – so I will be sure to let you know if I ever actually get “blue lemonade”.

I used a recipe from Perfect Entertaining, which I will repost for you here. I actually tripled this recipe for my purposes and did not use as many lemons – I used lemons from our lemon tree, which I know to be super juicy, flavorful, and slightly sweet – and I did not feel I needed as many lemons to obtain a perfect lemonade flavor. But below is the original recipe. Judge as you see fit!

“Blue” Lemonade

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

2 cups water (or to taste)
Zest and juice from 6 large lemons
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries

Mix together 2 cups of the water and the sugar in a medium heavy saucepan to create a simple syrup. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and cook for five minutes, or until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens slightly.

Mix in the lemon zest and juice. Remove from the heat. Let cool to room temperature. Puree the blackberries and blueberries in a food processor or blender. Add the berries to the lemonade mixture and let sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to several hours at room temperature. Strain well to remove the seeds and skin from the berries. Add remaining amount of water – add more if it tastes too sour to you. Chill until ready to serve.