The Best Ways To Use Up Lemonade (Besides Drinking It)

We’re well and truly into lemonade season now – and is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Probably, yes. If you’ve overshot it on the fresh lemonade, or you’ve stocked up and you’ve now got too much of the stuff on your hands, getting through it can start to feel like a hassle. Yes, you can ply your friends and family with it, but they, too, may start to tire of downing jugs of sweet lemon liquid. Cue relationships falling apart, decades-long friendships ending, and life as you know it taking a downturn.

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I digress. It’s not that deep. But if you’re sick of drinking lemonade, and you have some leftover, here’s what to do with it.

Turn It Into Granita

Granita is, in my opinion, a wholly underrated summer dessert: Easy to make, widely appealing, and, if I do say so myself, ever-so-slightly more refreshing than ice cream. And if you have leftover lemonade, you can whip it up in basically no time at all, and with no additional ingredients. In its simplest form, you can quite literally freeze lemonade in a shallow dish before breaking it apart with a fork, spooning it into cups, and serving.

Lemonade has the sweetness, sourness, and moisture content needed for a good granita – but if you want to take things further, you can. Pour in pineapple juice for a different flavor. Add mint for a burst of freshness. Cut it with sparkling water for a touch more lightness. It’s up to you.

Make A Citrus Syrup

Lemonade can serve as the ideal base for a citrus syrup, which you can then splash in all manner of cocktails, from a Garden Gimlet to a simple spritz. To make this, combine a cup of lemonade with a half-cup of granulated sugar, and then simmer them both gently until the solution has reduced and thickened. You might want to use less sugar if your lemonade’s especially sweet, but remember, this is a syrup – it’s meant to be intense. You can also add in some lemon peel or zest to amp up the flavor.

Freeze It Into Ice Cubes

The problem with lemonade – the problem with any drink that’s meant to remain cool – is that its flavor reduces when the ice you’ve added to it melts. The solution? Use ice made from said drink. Pop your leftover lemonade into ice trays, and freeze it until you next serve a batch.

This trick works well to keep lemonade both cool and concentrated, but it also helps flavor other drinks. Lemonade ice cubes can add an extra citrusy flavor to fruit juices, cocktails, or even just plain old sparkling water. Low expenditure for high returns.