Submitted by nicole on Thu, 04/17/2014 - 14:02

Make and freeze homemade lemonade concentrate in the winter, when lemons are in season, and save it for those sweltering summer months. It's easy to make frozen lemonade concentrate and enjoy homemade lemonade all year long.

Homemade lemonade concentrate in a freezer bag.

Dd you know that lemons are ripe and ready on the tree from January to early May? Not exactly classic lemonade season.

Lots of lemon peel next to a sliced lemon and a vegetable peeler on a white cutting board.

I needed a lot of lemon zest recently for a project I'm working on, and I hate to waste a bunch of fabulous organic lemons from our tree, so I decided to try making homemade lemonade concentrate, so I could freeze that fabulous summery flavor and actually have it during the hot weather.

Lemon next to two pyrex measuring cups, one with simple syrup, one with lemon juice.

Lemonade Concentrate Recipe:

2 cups of fresh lemon juice
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

two whole lemons and a third lemon cut in half on a light blue wood background.

Juice lemons until you have two cups of fresh lemon juice. Strain out any seeds and pulp (to taste).

Combine 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a small saucepan, and heat until the sugar crystals have dissolved. You're making a simple syrup, and, like it's name implies, it's very quick and easy to do.

Bag of homemade frozen lemonade concentrate on a white paper surface.

Mix the lemon juice and simple syrup together, and freeze in a quart size freezer bag. To make lemonade in the months ahead, simply defrost the concentrate, and mix it with four cups of water. It makes a perfect pitcher of lemonade every time.

three whole lemons and one sliced lemon on a weathered white wooden surface.