Cherry Lemonade
Happy Thursday Fellow Foodies!
Today, my amazing daughter and I went cherry picking at Villa Del Sol in the Leona Valley, here in sunny Palmdale.
This is a quiet and unassuming little orchard off of Elizabeth Lake Rd. There are lots of places to pick Cherries out in Leona Valley, but this is the first farm you come to, so it is the easiest place to start. Here is their web page in case you are close enough to head over: http://www.upickcherries.com/
As usual, when picking anything ourselves, we picked way more cherries than I had anticipated. I wanted about 2 Lbs. of fruit and I think we got closer to 5Lbs.!!! Last year, we actually picked twice that much, and having eaten more than our fill of cherry pie, cherry turnovers, cherry cobbler-you get the idea-I still had tons of fruit left. So I got creative and made cherry lemonade from what was left.
My kid remembered this, and that was the FIRST thing she wanted when we got home today. Here is the recipe:
CHERRY LEMONADE
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice-PLEASE for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT use presqueezed lemon juice!!!!!!!!!!!
2 cups ripe red cherries
2/3-3/4 cup of sugar (depending on your personal tastes)
4 cups of filtered water
Using a cherry pitter, remove the stones from the cherries. Place the now pitted cherry flesh into a blender with the sugar and one cup of the filtered water. Discard the pits in the garbage.
Puree on the highest setting for 1-2 minutes until you have a smooth even liquid. Pour the lemon juice and remaining water into a large pitcher and set a strainer over the top of the pitcher.
Pour the cherry/sugar mix through the strainer and stir to combine. Pour over ice, garnish as you like and serve!
Today, my amazing daughter and I went cherry picking at Villa Del Sol in the Leona Valley, here in sunny Palmdale.
This is a quiet and unassuming little orchard off of Elizabeth Lake Rd. There are lots of places to pick Cherries out in Leona Valley, but this is the first farm you come to, so it is the easiest place to start. Here is their web page in case you are close enough to head over: http://www.upickcherries.com/
As usual, when picking anything ourselves, we picked way more cherries than I had anticipated. I wanted about 2 Lbs. of fruit and I think we got closer to 5Lbs.!!! Last year, we actually picked twice that much, and having eaten more than our fill of cherry pie, cherry turnovers, cherry cobbler-you get the idea-I still had tons of fruit left. So I got creative and made cherry lemonade from what was left.
My kid remembered this, and that was the FIRST thing she wanted when we got home today. Here is the recipe:
CHERRY LEMONADE
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice-PLEASE for the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT use presqueezed lemon juice!!!!!!!!!!!
2 cups ripe red cherries
2/3-3/4 cup of sugar (depending on your personal tastes)
4 cups of filtered water
Using a cherry pitter, remove the stones from the cherries. Place the now pitted cherry flesh into a blender with the sugar and one cup of the filtered water. Discard the pits in the garbage.
Puree on the highest setting for 1-2 minutes until you have a smooth even liquid. Pour the lemon juice and remaining water into a large pitcher and set a strainer over the top of the pitcher.
Pour the cherry/sugar mix through the strainer and stir to combine. Pour over ice, garnish as you like and serve!
NOTE: the Hubs says this particular recipe is AWESOME with tequila...Ole!!!
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