How to Make Fresh Lemonade from Real Lemons

Learn to make delicious fresh lemonade while exploring how acids and sugars dissolve in water.

1. Roll and prep your lemons. Roll each lemon on the counter while pressing down firmly. This breaks up the juice sacs inside and makes squeezing easier. Then ask a grown-up to help you cut each lemon in half.
2. Extract the lemon juice. Squeeze each lemon half over a bowl. If you have a citrus juicer, use that. If not, stick a fork into the center of each half and twist it around to break up the pulp, then squeeze. You need about 3/4 cup of juice total.
3. Strain out the pulp and seeds. Pour your fresh lemon juice through a fine mesh strainer into your pitcher. This removes the pulp and seeds but keeps all that tart, citrusy flavor.
4. Dissolve the sugar. Add the sugar to your lemon juice and stir vigorously for about 1 minute. Watch how the sugar crystals disappear as they dissolve into the acidic lemon juice. The mixture will look cloudy at first.
5. Add water and mix. Pour in the cold water and stir everything together. Notice how the cloudy lemon-sugar mixture spreads evenly throughout the water. Taste it and add more sugar or lemon juice if you want it sweeter or more tart.
6. Chill and serve. Add ice cubes to your pitcher and stir once more. Pour into glasses filled with ice and enjoy your fresh lemonade! Notice how it tastes different from the powdered kind - that's because you're tasting real citric acid and natural lemon oils.