There's nothing like a hand-squeezed glass of lemonade to quench your thirst on a blistering hot day in Niger. It takes quite a process to make lemonade. We can't buy lemon juice in the store, but we can buy real limes and lemons. Here's my recipe for great lemonade.
First you have to choose the right lemons or limes. You want ones that are firm, not mushy or smelly. But you don't want them to be too hard. You should be able to squeeze them a little and feel juice in them. Lemons should be somewhat yellow and lime have a greenish-yellow tint.
Once you bring them home and wash them, you need to cut them in half and squeeze them. We have an old hand-squeezer that I use. It's not in great shape, but it's so much stronger than those wimpy, modern squeezers you buy in the store. While I'm squeezing the lemons, I also strain out the pulp and the seeds.
After squeezing the lemons, I pour the juice into ice cube trays. With long experience, I've discovered that lemon juice keeps well frozen. When the cubes are frozen, I take the cubes out of the tray and put them into small Ziploc bags five to a bag. Then I pop them in our big chest freezer.
When I want to make lemonade, I take a bag out of the freezer, put it in a 2-litre jug of cold water, and add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar. Stir, pour over ice, and enjoy. Ahhhh! What a great way to quench your thirst.
