Lemon Squash is an easy DIY lemon syrup concentrate made without preservatives and additives. This can be used to make a refreshing Lemon Drink.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 750 · 750 ml
  • Category: Beverages
  • Cuisine: World

Ingredients

  • 500 grams lemons (or 10 to 12 lemons or 1 cup fresh lemon juice)
  • 1 cup water
  • 500 grams raw sugar (or white sugar or or 2 heaped cups)
  • ½ teaspoon saffron (- crushed, optional)
  • 8 to 9 green cardamoms (- crushed or 1 teaspoon cardamom powder, optional)
  • 1 glass water (- cold)
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon squash
  • 2 to 3 ice cubes optional

Method

Making Lemon Squash

  1. First, in a pan or sauce pan, take water and sugar.
  2. Keep this sugar-water solution on a low heat. Stir so that the sugar dissolves. The syrup will be sticky when you touch it.
  3. When all the sugar has dissolved, continue to simmer on low heat until the sugar syrup reaches to a half string consistency. Then switch off the heat. You can also heat the sugar syrup to one string consistency.
  4. Let the sugar syrup cool slightly. Then using a strainer filter the syrup. First line a bowl with a mesh strainer. Line the strainer with a muslin cloth or cotton kitchen napkin.
  5. Now pour the sugar syrup carefully through the muslin lined strainer into the bowl.
  6. Let this filtered sugar syrup become lukewarm or cool down to room temperature.
  7. Rinse the lemons well in water. Halve them.
  8. With a lemon squeezer or press, extract juice from each lemon half in a bowl or mug.
  9. You will need 1 cup of lemon juice.
  10. If there are small seeds in the lemon juice, then filter them through a tea strainer.
  11. Powder seeds of 8 to 9 green cardamoms together with saffron in a mortar-pestle. Keep aside.
  12. Now add the lemon juice to the sugar syrup. The sugar syrup should be lukewarm or at room temperature when you add the lemon juice.
  13. Add the powdered cardamom and saffron. Mix very well.
  14. Now pour the Lemon Squash in a sterilized bottle or jar. Close the lid tightly and refrigerate.

Making Lemon Drink

  1. When preparing the Lemon Squash drink, add 3 to 4 tablespoons of the squash in a glass and add cold water.
  2. Stir and serve. You can also add ice cubes in the drink.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.