What Is Blackberry Lemonade?
Like standard lemonade, it’s made with water, sugar and lemon juice. However, this version contains a sauce made from blackberries, giving it a different flavor and a nice purple/pink color. The blackberry seeds and pulp are strained out, so the drinking experience is smooth and pleasant.
Why I Made It
I wanted a cold summer drink that I could make somewhat regularly. However, I didn’t want the usual lemonade.
This version is different enough to remove the monotony, but is still enjoyable and easy to make.
Ingredients You Need to Make It
You’ll need lemon juice, blackberries, sugar or sweetener, and water.
While It’s not an ingredient, you’ll also need a fine mesh strainer or some cheesecloth for straining the blackberries. You may also be able to use a coffee filter.
Fresh Lemons vs Bottled Juice
For this recipe, I recommend squeezing fresh lemons for most of the juice. However, if a finished lemon leaves you with almost enough juice, feel free to top it off with bottled juice.
You’ll probably need about 4 lemons worth of juice, to keep that in mind.
Fresh or Frozen Blackberries?
Either can be used to good effect. Despite the negative connotation that comes with freezing, I believe frozen fruit is actually pretty good, quality-wise.
IF you use thawed frozen berries, be sure not to throw out the “berry water”. It’s just melted ice with blackberry essence, and isn’t something you want to lose out on.
Using Sweetener Instead of Sugar
If you’d prefer to use something like stevia in place of sugar, that’s not going to ruin this. It will, however, change the flavor.
I’ve made lemonades, teas, etc with sweetener before, and I greatly prefer the flavor I get from granulated sugar. If you’re worried about calories, I recommend trying half sweetener half sugar before committing to stevia, monk fruit sweetener, etc.
I’m not sure how sweetener would work with cooking the blackberries. If using sweetener, I recommend adding the berries to the pan with some water and cooking them alone.
Why You Should Make It
This drink offers something a bit different than normal lemonade, while still being familiar. It’s also very easy to make, is refreshing, and has a very nice color to it.
Making the Lemonade More or Less Strong
If I plan on drinking something daily, I want it to be very drinkable. While I like lemonade, I find it’s often too strong and drying for frequent consumption.
The way I made this conformed to my “more drinkable” standards, so it may seem a bit weak. I recommend starting with 3 cups (681 grams) of water, then tasting and adjusting from there.
Conclusion and Recipe
Below I’ve listed the ingredients, ingredient amounts, and steps for making this blackberry lemonade. If you like this recipe, consider following me on WordPress or Pinterest.
If you’re looking for more refreshing summer drinks, check out my sweet honey limeade.
Ingredients
1 pint of blackberries, about 1.5 cups, 454 grams
4 oz lemon juice, about 4 juiced lemons, 115 grams
1 cup granulated sugar*, 202 grams
32 oz cold water**, 908 grams
Makes about 4 cups of lemonade
Preparation
Add the blackberries and half the sugar to a medium sauce pan. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and a sauce has formed.
Add the remaining sugar to a pitcher, as well as the lemon juice and water. Once the blackberry sauce is done, add it in as well***.
Stir to dissolve the sugar. If you added cold water, taste and adjust water/sugar as needed. If your water was room temperature, chill before adjusting.
Notes
* This is a rough estimate. You may need more or less depending on your tastes.
Also keep in mind that this assumes you used 32 oz of water. If you use less water, it may be too much sugar.
** As mentioned above, using 32 oz of water could make this too weak for some people. I recommend using only 24 oz (681 grams) to start, then adding more water if it’s too strong.
*** Be sure to strain this through a fine-mesh strainer or similar. You technically don’t need to, but you’ll have blackberry seeds and pulp floating in your drink, which doesn’t sound fun.
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