Most of the time, our preferred vacation spot would be somewhere along the Mediterranean coast. Since we lived in the northern part of Turkey, this meant driving somewhere between 10-12 hours to the South in the hot summer sun. Back in those days, we didn’t have an air-conditioned car so operating under the sun for that long required something to keep us refreshed. My mom’s solution to the problem was this rosemary lemonade. She would start making it a day in advance with a bag full of fresh lemons and herbs and would put it in a large ice-filled beverage with a dispenser. We would sip on it throughout the trip. To this day, every time I drink this lemonade my mind directly goes to those days of my childhood. I recently made it again and my husband thought that it was the best lemonade he had so I thought I should share it here with you.
How to make mint lemonade with rosemary:
The process of making this Vanilla Lemonade with Mint and Rosemary has 3 parts: First, place medium mesh strainer in a bowl. Set it aside. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla pod and place them in a small bowl. Do not discard the vanilla pod. Second, slice whole lemons and place them in the strainer. Add in fresh mint leaves, fresh rosemary sprigs, Sucanat (natural sugar – this brand is the one I use – affiliate link) and vanilla seeds and pod. Give it a message using your clean hands. I usually wear disposable gloves to do this. The whole purpose of doing so is to get some of the juices of sliced lemons and their zest out and make sure that both lemons and fresh herbs are coated with sugar and vanilla. Cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Finally, take it out of the fridge and message the lemons, pressing through the strainer, until all of their juices are out. Remove the solids and pour the juices in the bowl into a large bottle. Give your vanilla lemonade a taste. It should super sweet and sour. Add in 8 cups of cold water and pour it into a large jug filled with ice. Give it a stir and serve.
What makes this homemade lemonade better than other recipes
In my opinion, there are 3 things that make this the best rosemary lemonade recipe:
Other refreshing non-alcoholic drink recipes you might like:
Strawberry LimeadeGinger Ice Tea
This vanilla lemonade recipe was originally published in 2014, but updated in July of 2018 with some additional helpful information.
