Lemonade

It's been a while since I've made anything from historical recipes and I decided that it was high time. Lemonade seemed like the perfect choice to go with our barbecue this past weekend, so I dug up this post from Cooking in the Archives and had a go.

To Make Lemonade
Boil One Quart of Spring Water, let it stand until it is Milk Warm. Pare five clear Lemons very thin and put the parings in the warm Water. Let it stand all Night, the next Morning strain off the peel thro' a fine Lawn Sieve, Squeeze the juice of the five lemons, Strain it, and put it in the Water, put in Eleven Ounces of double Refined Sugar, One Spoonful of Orange flower water, Mix these well together, it will be fit for use.

Now, Marissa (one of the blog authors) argues that there are two valid interpretations of this recipe based on the two definitions of "pare". It could mean to peel or it could mean to thinly slice. So, she sliced up all her lemons, let them steep in the water, and then tried to press the juice from the slices the next day. Which, I don't think is what the recipe intended at all!

Yes, there are two equally valid definitions of the word "pare". However, context matters! What does "put" mean? Does it mean the same thing when I say "put out the cat" vs. "put out the fire"? Is "putting down my book" the same as "putting down my dog"?

If I say that I am sad because I had to put my dog down, would you think that since "put" has multiple definitions any interpretation that uses one of those definitions would be equally valid? Or would you look at the context and realize that some interpretations make significantly more sense than others?

So, back to the recipe! Yes, in isolation "pare five lemons" could mean either "peel" or "slice", but when the recipe later talks about straining off the peel, I feel that the ambiguity is removed. The fact that it says to "squeeze the juice of the five lemons" rather than "squeeze the juice from the parings" or "slices" or some variation thereof is also telling.

I love the Cooking in the Archives blog and I'm thrilled that they're sharing all these wonderful recipes, but I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of critical thinking on display with this one.

Anyway, enough of my griping and complaints! Let's talk about the actual lemonade! This is a food blog afterall.

I scaled the recipe up a bit since I wanted a nice big pitcher of lemonade to serve to guests. I also scaled back the sugar some since everyone at dinner preferred their lemonade quite tart.

Lemonade
7 lemons
6 c. water
11 oz. (~312g) sugar
1 Tbsp. orange blossom water
sparkling water (to serve)
ice (to serve)

1. Bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. Meanwhile, peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler, taking off as little of the white pith as possible. Add the peel to the warm water. Allow to stand several hours or overnight.
3. Strain the pieces of peel out of the water.
4. Juice the lemons, strain the juice, and add it to the water.
5. Stir in the sugar and orange blossom water. Adjust sugar to taste.
6. Serve with ice and chilled sparkling water.

The original recipe says nothing of ice or sparkling water or dilution, but Marissa suggested these for serving and I find they make lovely additions! You can, of course, drink the lemonade straight, but it is quite... intense. Very lemony, but I found I actually preferred it mixed about 1:1 with chilled sparkling water. The mild fizz actually enhanced the flavours while making it slightly less lip-puckering and more refreshing.