Citrus season! Suddenly I found myself in possession of a plethora of ripe lemons and limes. I could not eat them raw.
What to do?
Make a jam? I do not have that kind of time.
Candied slices? Delicious, but again, too much time!
Alas – I found a solution: LEMON-LIME SIMPLE SYRUP.
It’s all in the name. Simple Syrup is one part water to one part sugar. Boiled gently on the stove for a few minutes until it becomes (you guessed it) – syrup!
The deviation between standard Simple Syrup and this extremely versatile and certifiably delicious Lemon-Lime Simple Syrup is the addition of zest and juice from lemons and limes. All that goodness gets strained at the end, so you don’t even have to worry about seeds or the zest turning the syrup sour.
Use this Lemon-Lime Simple Syrup:
- To make popsicles (Blueberry Lemon Popsicle recipe coming soon!)
- In a batch of iced tea.
- Poured over vanilla ice cream.
- Splashed on a fruit salad.
- Drizzled into a batch of salad dressing.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup of water.
- 1 cup of granulated sugar.
- 3 limes zested and juiced.
- 3 lemons zested and juiced.
DIRECTIONS
- Zest the limes and the lemons completely. Typically, there is more zest to be had on the lemon before reaching the pith than the lime. We don’t want any pith! I find it best for easy cleanup to zest the fruit directly into the small sauce pan you’ll be using to make the syrup.
- Juice the limes and the lemons, again directly into the sauce pan is fine. If you are concerned about seeds, use an electric juicer that separates them for you, or some cheese cloth.
- Place the sauce pan on the stove. Add water and sugar. Bring to a gentle boil using mostly medium heat.
- Let simmer for ten minutes, until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Strain using a fine mesh strainer. Store in a glass mason jar, or other heat safe jar. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use!
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Enjoy!
