I prefer to make lemonade and sweetened drinks with simple syrups rather than straight up sugar. For one reason, the sugar is already dissolved for you. Plus simple sugars, because they are a cooked syrup have a little deeper flavor that sugar on it’s own. This morning I had every intention of writing a recipe for blueberry lemonade. When I went to the fridge to get the blueberries, there were six beautifully ripe lilikoi or passion fruit that I had left over from a photo shoot last week… it’s like the sun came-a-shinin’! So I cut those beautiful wrinkled gems in half and scooped out the pulp.
If you have never had passion fruit before, run don’t walk and pick up a few. They will be going out of season toward the end of June and won’t be back until the end of summer. If you can’t find passion fruit, just substitiute blueberries and the is still a treat. Oh yeah, add a shot (or two of rum) to your lilikoi lemonade and have a great day grilling and entertaining!
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup lilikoi (passion fruit) pulp and seeds (about 6 lilikoi)
- Reserved lilikoi seeds from simple syrup
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 cups cold water
- Pinch salt
- Combine 1 cup water and sugar in a saucepan and simmer for a couple minutes until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and add the lilikoi pulp; let it steep for 5 minutes and then remove from heat. Cool to room temperature and strain. Reserve the seeds if you are going to use it immediately because the are edible and make a beautiful garnish.
- Combine the remaining ingredients, stir, and chill. Note: I like my lemonade a little on the tart side, so be forewarned. Also, that pinch of salt is the key. It really enlivens the passion fruit while taking some of the edge off the acidity of the lemon juice.
Cheers and Happy Grilling!
Jeff
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