AI-generated image
Lemonana
Frozen mint lemonade
Lemonana (limonada bi na'na): frozen mint lemonade blended to a bright green slush
From café terraces in Ramallah and Jaffa to juice bars along Hamra Street in Beirut, summer means tall glasses of lemonana: lemons and fistfuls of fresh mint blended with ice into a sharp, sweet, electric-green slush. It is the drink handed to you after a walk through the market at noon, and it cools a mezze lunch like nothing else. Everything goes in a blender, but the mint must be fresh and plentiful. The common mistake is blending the mint for too long, which bruises it and turns the drink murky and grassy. Chef's tip: make a lemon-sugar syrup first and chill it; dissolved sugar sweetens evenly and lets you blend for only a few seconds.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 3 ½ oz sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tsp lemon zestfrom 1 unwaxed lemon
- ¾ cup lemon juicefrom about 5 lemons
- 1 oz fresh mint leavesa large handful
- 1 ⅛ lb ice cubes
- 1 cup cold water
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (3)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Heat 3 ½ oz sugar, ¾ cup water and 1 tsp lemon zest in a small pan over a medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Cool, then chill.
5 minStep 2: Put the syrup, ¾ cup lemon juice, 1 oz fresh mint leaves, 1 ⅛ lb ice cubes and 1 cup cold water in a blender.
Step 3: Blend on high for 20–30 seconds only, until smooth and bright green with tiny flecks of mint. Taste and add a little more lemon or syrup.
Step 4: Pour into tall glasses straight away and serve with a sprig of mint; it separates if left standing.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 110 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 29 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does lemonana take?
- About 20 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of lemon juice?
- Lime juice, same amount.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Power packApple, pear, kiwi and celery juice
A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.
Guava delightGuava, mango and banana drink
A thick, fragrant blend of ripe guava, mango and banana, boosted with a spoonful of guava powder from the health shop. The book calls it a modern-day vitality drink, drawing on guava's long use in traditional Indian medicine. Serve it well chilled; sieve it if you don't like the little guava seeds.
PingadoHot milk with coffee
Order 'um pingado' at the balcão of any São Paulo padaria at 7 in the morning and the attendant pours hot milk into a ridged glass tumbler (the copo americano) and 'drips' in a splash of strong coffee, hence the name. It is milkier and gentler than a média (half coffee, half milk), creamy and lightly sweet, usually drunk standing up with a pão na chapa, a toasted buttered roll. At home you need strong filter coffee and milk heated until steaming. Scalding the milk is the frequent mistake, as boiled milk tastes flat and forms a skin. Chef's tip: froth the hot milk for a few seconds with a whisk or by pouring it back and forth between two jugs before adding the coffee, as padaria machines do.
BrazilianPerfect for:Summer coolers