The Art of Making State Fair Lemonade: A Delicious and Fragrant Treat

As the Memorial Day weekend approaches, many of us are excited to welcome the start of summer with open arms. For me, this holiday marks the beginning of a new season, and what better way to celebrate than with a refreshing glass of lemonade? In this article, I'll be sharing my recipe for State Fair Lemonade, a delicious and fragrant treat that's perfect for warm weather gatherings.

To start, we need to make our lemonade base. This involves boiling water and pouring it over sliced lemons, which releases their oils and flavor into the liquid. As we pour the hot water over the peels, the aroma of citrus fills the air, creating a sensory experience that's sure to tantalize your taste buds.

To make our lemonade base, I'll be using four cups of boiling water and six sliced lemons. The ratio of water to lemons can vary depending on personal preference, but for this recipe, we want to ensure that each sip is infused with the perfect balance of citrus flavor. As I pour the hot water over the peels, I notice how the liquid takes on a beautiful yellow hue, signaling that our base is ready.

Next, we'll need to strain the lemonade base to remove any remaining sediment or peels. This step is crucial in ensuring that our final product is smooth and free of any unwanted texture. To do this, I'll be placing a colander over a bowl and pouring the warm concoction into it. As the liquid passes through the strainer, I can see how the clear liquid pours out, leaving behind only the peels.

With our lemonade base strained, we're now ready to add the final touches. This includes adding ice to chill the mixture and squeezing fresh lemon juice for added flavor and tartness. In this recipe, I've found that one cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice adds just the right amount of zing without overpowering the delicate flavor of our State Fair Lemonade.

Now it's time to add the finishing touches to our beautiful concoction. As I stir in the juice, I notice how the color deepens and becomes even more vibrant, reflecting the complexity of flavors that we've created. This is where patience comes into play – allowing our lemonade to chill before serving ensures that all the flavors meld together harmoniously.

To complete this recipe, we'll need to serve it with a few accompaniments. One popular option is ice, which helps cool down the mixture and enhances its refreshing qualities. Another classic pairing is corn dogs, which evoke memories of summertime fairs and festivals.

As I enjoy my State Fair Lemonade while snacking on a frozen corn dog, I find myself lost in thought. Who knew that something as simple as making lemonade could bring such joy and happiness into our lives? The process of creating this delicious treat requires patience, attention to detail, and a willingness to experiment with new flavors.

For those who enjoy the thrill of experimenting with their own recipes, I'll be sharing my favorite corn dog recipe later in this article. In the meantime, let's focus on perfecting the art of making State Fair Lemonade – a drink that embodies the spirit of summertime fun and warm weather gatherings.

In addition to its refreshing qualities, our State Fair Lemonade also has an air of nostalgia surrounding it. For some, the scent of citrus may evoke memories of childhood vacations or family picnics. Others may associate this flavor with summertime fairs and festivals, where the sounds of laughter and chatter fill the air alongside the smell of freshly grilled foods.

As I reflect on my own experiences with making lemonade, I'm reminded of a peculiar incident involving phytophotodermatitis – a condition that affects those who spend too much time in the sun without proper protection. This condition is caused by the oils present in citrus fruits and UV light, which react to create a chemical burn on the skin.

While this experience may have been unsettling, it also taught me an important lesson about respecting the power of nature. As we enjoy our State Fair Lemonade, let's remember to wash our hands thoroughly after handling citrus fruits and avoid spending too much time in direct sunlight without proper protection.

As I near the end of my recipe, I want to share one final secret that elevates this drink from ordinary to extraordinary. To achieve true perfection, we must allow our lemonade base to cool before serving it over ice. This step is crucial in preventing warm flavors from overpowering the delicate taste of our State Fair Lemonade.

By following these simple steps and tips, you'll be well on your way to creating a refreshing glass of lemonade that's sure to delight friends and family alike.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(whimsical music)- Greeting my beautifullovelies, it's Emmy.How are you?It's great to see you, and welcome back.Today I'm going to be makingone of my most favorite beverages ever.And it is for lemonade,more specifically, State Fair lemonade.You know, the lemonade that'smade from actual lemons,and you have that beautifulscent of lemon oil?Yes, that kind.Because Memorial Day is justright around the corner.And for me, that's sort of the hallmark,the kind of marker ofthe beginning of summer.And lemonade is the drinkof summer, in my opinion,or one of the drinks of summer.So the recipe I'm goingto be testing out todaycomes from Food Wishes, achannel that's been on YouTubefor the longest time.So many great recipes.I'll put a link down below.Chef John has a great voice anda terrific mustache as well.And this recipe looks lovely.There are specific techniques involvedin terms of extractingthat beautiful lemon scentthat I think is essential to lemonade.You really need thelemon oil, in my opinion,to make a really fragrantand delicious lemonade.It's not just about the tang of the juice.It's the smell of the lemon oil.So let's go ahead andmake us some lemonade.The first thing we're going toneed, of course, are lemons.So I've got six lemonsrolling around here.We're also going to need some sugar.Oh, I hope I have enough sugar, curses.I should.Okay, so what I think isinteresting about this recipeis that we're going to reallycapture those lemon oils.And all of that lemon oil is locatedin the rind or the zest.Actually not...There is fruit fly in here already?So we have to capture someof that beautiful lemon oil.And it is located in thebeautiful zest of the lemon,which is just the yellowpart of the lemon.We don't want to get the pith,which is the bitter partunderneath the zest.So using a vegetable peelerwe're just gonna peel it,but we just want to removethis thin top layer here.We want to avoid gettingany of pith, if possible.Just the thinnest layer andalready it smells so good.And if you squeeze it in the light,you can see all of thatbeautiful oil coming out.That's what we want to capture.So we're going to zest all six lemons.And just use some gentle pressure herebecause we don't want any of that.Now of course, save the lemonsafter we've peeled them.We also want the tangy juiceas well, but not quite yet.So it helps if you have areally sharp vegetable peelerbecause look, on the bottomhere, there's no white pith.It's just zest.Have you ever lit citrus oil on fire,or put it in front of a match?It makes these beautiful sparks.So you just take some citrus peel,orange peel, tangerine peel, lemon peel,and right in front of the flameof a candle, squeeze this.And you'll get thesebeautiful little cracklesbecause the oil ignites.It's pretty great.A little experiment I did with my kiddos.It smells so good.My hands are gonna smellamazing after this.Now, to all of this beautiful zest,we're going to add a cupand a quarter of sugar.One cup of sugar.So we have the total of acup and a quarter of sugar.Now we're going to toss this.And the sugar is going to draw outany moisture from the zestand capture some of those oils as well.This smells heavenly.Alrighty, so now we're gonna let this restanywhere from two hours to overnightso all those flavors can beextracted into the sugar.And then we can continuewith the next stepof making our lemonade. Okay,I'll see you in a little bit,after this has done its resting.(Emmy chortling)Alright my lovelies, it's been a few hourssince I combined mysugar and zest together.And, as you can see here,a lot of the water hascome out of the zest,and it has liquified a bit.It's a little bit sandy,but very different than themixture we started with.So now behind me, I've gotsome water coming up to a boil.And we're going to createthe lemony syrup infusionfor our lemonade.So, almost to a boil....So I'm gonna give this a stirand press on the lemon peels.I forgot to mention beforeyou even peel your lemons,make sure you wash themreally, really well.So, now it smells so good in here.I wish you could smell it.So lemony and zingy and bright.(kettle beeping)Oh, there's my water.So now we're going to pour four cupsboiling water right ontop of the lemon peels.(Emmy sighs)That smells so good.Get every bit of that.Okay, so give this a little bit of a stirto help the sugar dissolve.Look at this beautiful yellowcolor it's already taken on.Isn't that gorgeous?Look at that color.So while that's cooling off a bit,we can squeeze the lemon juice.Cutting my lemons in half.I'm gonna try out this new juicer of mine.My other juicer I stillhave, which I love,my vintage juicer.My kids especially love using that juicerbecause you just getto pull on that handleand see all the juice come out.What I like about this,it has a little incrementson the side here,so I know exactly howmuch lemon juice I've got.But for this recipe, it'sactually not that importantbecause we just need thejuice of those six lemons.So, juice away!And we will compost the rest.So out of curiosity, one large lemonhas about about an 1/8of a cup of lemon juice.So it's gonna vary, but some lemonsseem to be juicier than others.So how much juice you actuallyget might vary a little bit.But so far out of two lemons,I've gotten a 1/4 cup.So by the end of this,we should have 3/4 of acup of pure lemon juice.Oh my gosh, did ever tell you the storyof when I got phytophotodermatitis?Both my kids and I got itbecause we made limeade using limes.We were on vacation, of course.And we were squeezing limes.And the next day we werewalking around a theme parkin the sun all day.And the following day,we had kind of itchyburny skin on our hands.And then we noticed on the next day,it had a bit of a pattern to it.It was kind of like a chemical burn.Spattery, it was in betweenlike our fingers here.But my husband didn't haveany signs of it at all.So I was researching and I found outwe had phytophotodermatitis,which is caused from the oils of citrus,particularly limes, and UV light.And it causes a chemicalburn on your skin.It's a true thing.Sometimes they call it, Ithink, bartender's burn.Because bartenders are oftenmuddling limes and stuffand get the lime oils on their skin.And then the reaction with the UV lights,it burns your skin.The more you know.So make sure you wash yourhands really thoroughlyafter squeezing citrusbefore going out in the sun.Okay, last half here.And actually we havemore than 3/4 of a cup.We have about almost a cup.And now we shall return to this bowl here,this beautiful concoction.Now this is pretty warm.And to speed things up,I'm going to strain ourbeautiful peels out.So I'm going to placethe colander over hereand then pour this over the top.So we can get every little bit out.Okay.Beautiful, so to this warm concoctionwe're going to add one cup of ice.That will help cool things off.Stir it, and at this point,it's almost at room temperature.I'm going to add our juice,all that beautifultanginess, into our bowl.Now we want to thoroughlychill this before we serve itbecause warm lemonade, cannot do it.So I'm gonna place thisin the refrigeratorand chill it for a couple of hours.Can also just serve it with a bunch of iceif you're in a hurry, but I'mgoing ahead and cool mine off.So into the refrigerator.Here we go.Oh, I've got lots ofmushrooms spawning here.Welcome to my world.So while the lemonade is cooling off,I thought I'd make this a full experienceby having my lemonade with a corn dog.Because that's what I think ofwhen I think of state fair food.But when I went to the supermarketto look for frozen corndogs, they didn't have any.I have a great corn dog recipe,if you're looking tomake them from scratch.I'll put the link down below to that.But I was just lookingfor the frozen variety.Couldn't find them, so I thought,\"Hmm, I guess I'm having hot dogs.\"And then I remembered I had this gadget.I've been holding on to this for years.This is the Coney IslandSteamer that is made by Sunbeam.By the looks of thepackaging, it's from the 19...It's from 1978.This is 44 years old?45, 78, 45.No, this is 43 years old.This is 43 years old.I found this at a junkshop a few years ago.I think I paid 10 bucks for it.And let's cook with it.I hope it works.So let's go ahead andunbox it so you can see.It's pretty straightforward.So, I washed it when I gotit and I kept it in this box.It's still has its the original papers.The Coney Island Steamer Frank 'n BunInstruction & Recipes, look at that.And it is very straightforward to use.And here is the steamer.Okay, so I'm going to plug it in.So I already washedthis off, plugged it in.And now I'm going toadd one ounce of waterright into the trough.Add the tray back,and then place a hotdog right there.And the odd little lid.And this is the bun steamer.You open up the bun,and you rest it right on top, like that.So your bun gets nice and steamy.And look, there's already condensationforming on the inside.So it's working.Pretty simple unit here.You can only cook one hot dog at a time.I can hear something happeninglike the water is heating.And this is probablypretty great for a kidto make their own snack.There you have it, the ConeyIsland Steamer, Frank 'n Bun.(Emmy laughing)Not quite as exciting as the HotDogger.Did you see that hot dog gadget?I'll put a link down below to that onewhere you could electrocuteyour hot dogs to cook them.Very, very thrilling.I think you could do six hotdogs at one time or eight.Yeah, very, very efficient.And yeah, we'll set that for five minutes.And let's go check on our lemonade.(gentle upbeat music)All right my lovelies.The Coney Island Steamerhas completed steaming.It has been five minutes.My lemonade is chilled.So let's have a taste of thestate fair at home, shall we?So let me grab a plate.Okay, here's the bun.Oh, very pleasantly toasty and steamy,just as you would get out of a carton the streets of any big city.And now I'm going to open this partto reveal a steamed dog.And then we'll place thehot dog right in the bun.Beautiful.(Emmy laughing)I like ketchup and I like mustard.I also like onions,but I think I'll just do the basics today.Oh, beautiful.Look at that, picture perfect.Lemonade, on ice.(Emmy humming)Very, very excited about this.All right my lovelies,let's taste our lemonade first.Here we go, to the state fair. Cheers.It's better than the state fair.It's so stinkin' good, so good.Tangy, sweet, zingy, butfilled with lemon fragrance.It's just so, so good.Cool and refreshing,icy, icy cold, actually.So good.This is gonna be gone tonight.My kids love lemonade.They're gonna love this.So good.It makes me wish I livedin a warmer climatewhere I could actuallyhave my own lemon treethat could live year round.I could keep a lemon tree inside,but I don't have a lot of sunlight.Anyways, I digress.If you have a lemon tree, I'm envious,because you could make this all the time.Alrighty, let's try our steamed hot dog.This is really impressive.Because the bun has been steamed,it is really soft, super soft,still soft.Alrighty, itadakimasu!These are the tastes of summer.Icy cold homemade lemonade.A hot dog, squishy bun, ketchup, mustard.Just great.The Coney Island Steamer does a great job.My hot dog is thoroughly warmed up.I'm really impressed withthe texture of the bun.The bun gets really soft and toasty.It's the best way to heat up a bun.I think it's even better than toasting itbecause it keeps the heat.And it's got such apillowy soft texture to it.It's great for a hot dog.So I highly recommend this lemonade.It is a little bit of work to makebut so very worth it.And hot dogs, you know, hotdogs represent summer to me.They represent childhood.They represent children andjust life in so many ways,especially since I've had my own children.And yeah, here's to summer.All right my lovelies.Thanks so much for watching.I hope you enjoy that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media.Check out my website,where I'll include a printableversion of this recipe.And yeah, like this video, subscribe.And I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo! Take care! Byeee!!!(upbeat music)(Emmy chortling)\n"