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Summertime Lemonade for a Crowd

Simple lemonade recipe for 10-100!

Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 2 minutes
Servings 10 -100 servings
Author Si Foster, A Bountiful Kitchen

Ingredients

for 10 servings:

  • 4 cups water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 1 3/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice or bottled lemon juice such as Real Lemon green bottle
  • ice for pitcher and glasses

for 100 servings:

  • 8 cups water
  • 10 1/2 cups sugar
  • 8 cups cold water
  • 6 3/4 cups lemon juice fresh or bottled
  • additional water ice, gallon ziplock bags for storage
  • additional lemons washed and cut for decorative purposes in dispenser or pitcher

Instructions

for 10 servings:

  1. Pour 4 cups water and 2 cups sugar in a medium size pan. Bring to boil and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
  2. Pour into another pan, or let cool in pan.
  3. Add 2 cups cold water and 1 3/4 cups lemon juice with pulp. Stir well. Add additional water if desired.
  4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready to serve, pour over glasses filled with ice, or fill the pitcher with about 8 cups of ice and place additional ice in glasses and fill.

for 100 servings:

  1. Pour 8 cups water and 10 1/2 cups sugar into a large pan or stockpot. Whisk to mix sugar.
  2. Bring mixture to a boil, and continue boiling for 2-3 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Let cool a bit.
  3. Add 8 cups cold water and 6 3/4 cups lemon juice.
  4. Stir until mixed well.
  5. When mixture is cooled, pour into 4 gallon Ziplock bags, about 8 cups per bag, remove excess air and seal. Store in refrigerator, cooler or freezer.
  6. When ready to use concentrate, let thaw and mix each bag with 4 cups cold water and ice. Each gallon bag will yield approximately 24-4 oz servings in 8 oz cups filled with ice, or about 11-12 8 oz servings in 16 oz cups filled with ice.

Recipe Notes

  • One 5 lb bag of lemons will yield about 6-8 cups fresh lemon juice, depending on size and juiciness of fruit.
  • The serving size will vary according to your cup size, and if the cups are filled with ice.
  • The amount of lemon juice in the recipe may be altered, if you like a stronger lemon flavor add more juice. If the sweetness is too strong, add more water to the finished product. Remember, if you add too much water and add ice as well, the lemonade will become watered down when the ice melts.
  • If  filling dispensers with lemons, make sure the seeds are removed so they don't clog the spout when dispensing the lemonade.
  • You may add pureed fruit to the lemonade to make flavored lemonades such as strawberry, peach, raspberry, etc.
  • This mixture will keep in the freezer for 2-3 months.
  • You may thaw the concentrate in the microwave. Set in a microwave proof bowl before thawing to catch any juice that escapes from bag.
  • Minutemaid Premium lemon juice sold in the freezer section may be used in place of fresh lemon juice.
  • If you purchase ice cream in gallon tubs, one of the large concentrate batches fits in a tub and stacks easily for freezing.