Mocktail Hour: Blueberry Lemonade

The only thing worse than being told by your doctor that you have to be on medication is the bit when they sneak in to the conversation that you probably wont be able to drink any alcohol for the foreseeable future either due to said medication. Phooey.

Ah well, I've always liked a challenge so I am now on a mission to find lots of wonderful alcohol free beverages to tickle my taste-buds. First up is this rather delicious blueberry lemonade.

If you don't like blueberries why not experiment some other soft fruit, I suspect it would work really well with raspberries or strawberries in particular.

If, unlike me, you are free to drink alcohol, I have been told it tastes equally wonderful with a slug of vodka.

Blueberry Lemonade

Makes approx 1 litre

You will need:

• 240ml water
• 200g caster sugar
• 240ml lemon juice (about 6 big lemons)
• 200g blueberries
• 500ml still or sparkling water to dilute

Shake It!

• Put the sugar and 240ml of water in a pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool.
• Put the blueberries in a blender with a small amount of the lemon juice and liquidise. You can achieve the same results by blitzing them in a jug with a hand blender too.
• Strain the blueberry juice through a fine sieve into a serving jug. This is optional but will remove seeds and excess skin from the juice.
• Add the rest of the lemon juice and the sugar syrup to the blueberry juice and stir.
• You will now need to add about 500ml of cold water to the juice to dilute it. Add about 400ml initially and test it. You may find you need to add a bit more or even a lot more so keep adding water until it is diluted to your taste. I used still water but if you prefer you can use sparkling water to add a bit of fizz to your blueberry lemonade.
• Serve in a chilled glass with plenty of ice and a couple of frozen blueberries to garnish.