Blackberry Lemonade  

All photos for this post were taken by my neighbor, fellow blogger and photographer, Reiko. These drinks looked too good for me to butcher taking their photos.

You may have noticed that the Feral Cooks don’t necessarily feature a lot of drinks. Mostly because I’m not very interested in spending time on making them. But here we have an exception. I saw a photo of this lemonade in a recent Food & Wine magazine and thought it would be worth the effort. It was.

This shot shows the nice stratification between the turmeric-lemon and blackberry layers.

What’s cool about this lemonade is that it looks really cool with its stratified layers, and tastes great without being too sweet. The recipe makes four tall drinks in narrow glasses with a lot of ice in them. In other words, it’s not a lot to drink, and is mainly for sipping, not chugging.

Note that the two mixtures used in this drink can be made ahead and refrigerated separately for up to two weeks.

What you’ll need:

• 2/3-cup sugar
• 1/2-cup fresh lemon juice (for best flavor, otherwise bottled juice works fine)
• 1/2t ground turmeric (for that vibrant color, you can’t taste it)
• 4 oz (1 cup) fresh blackberries
• Ice
• 12 oz seltzer water or low-sodium club soda (chilled)
• Lemon slices, for garnish

What to do:

Bring 1/3-cup of the sugar and 1/3-cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir often to ensure the sugar is completely dissolved. After it comes to a boil, put it in a heatproof container that has a tight-fitting lid, like a glass jar. Let it cool in the refrigerator until cold. When cold, add the lemon juice, turmeric and a cup of water. Cover and shake vigorously to combine, then return it to the refrigerator.

While the sugar and water is cooling, add the blackberries, remaining 1/3-cup of sugar and 1/2-cup of water to a small saucepan. Mix and gently simmer for 10 minutes. While the mixture is simmering, break up the blackberries by smooshing them against the pan with the back of a large spoon. Make sure they’re all broken up. After simmering, run the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, capturing the liquid in a measuring cup or similar vessel. Cover and refrigerate until cool.

When all the mixtures are completely chilled, fill 4 tall, narrow glasses with ice, then shake the mixture with the turmeric and divide it among the glasses. Gently whisk the seltzer into the blackberry syrup and pour over the turmeric mixture. Do NOT stir.

Garnish with mint or basil and serve immediately.