Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Strawberries rank in the top 5 of my favorite fruits. I pretty much love anything that comes in a berry form, but strawberries usually end up at the top of the list. It's not uncommon for me to have a cup of strawberries with breakfast from the second they hit the shelves in stores until they're hardly in season any more.

I have a slight problem where I overestimate the amount of strawberries one person can eat before they go bad. Recently, I bought 4 lbs. of strawberries from Costco and told Tom of course I could eat them all! Obviously, I couldn't which is why I had some taking up valuable freezer space. There is also the problem of Wegman's who sells strawberries in those 2 lb. containers for only $1 more than a smaller one. I can't help it, I have to buy the huge thing of strawberries. There is even a nearby farm who keeps blasting me on Facebook with "Pick Your Own" Strawberries and I want nothing more than to do so, but I'll end up doing something silly like spending $30 on 20 lbs. of strawberries. And then what will I do? Buy a deep freezer, I guess.

Anyway, I needed the freezer space back and this recipe just happened to catch my eye when I was going through the blogs I follow. Plus my basil plant was kinda growing out of control and producing leaves faster than I could use them.

Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Source: What's Gaby Cooking?
Servings: ½ gallon
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Ingredients:

1 cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
8 cups water, divided
10 strawberries, tops removed
⅓ cup fresh basil leaves

Directions:
1. Pour the lemon juice in a large pitcher.
2. Combine the sugar and 4 cups of water together and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Place the strawberries and basil leaves in a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Add the water/sugar mixture and the strawberries to the pitcher. Pour in the additional 4 cups of water. Refrigerate until cold or serve with ice.

The original recipe calls for only 4 cups of water but I found this to be much too strong and tart. Instead of adding sugar, I opted to add another 4 cups of water. Its still a pretty strong lemonade, so if you prefer a lighter version, you might want to start at 8 cups and increase by 2 cups until it reaches your preferred taste.

Tom thought this would be completely gross because of the basil and refused to even try it. I don't think the basil came through very strongly at all. Also, if you are not a fan of pulp in orange juice, I don't think this recipe will be for you as I was left with quite a bit of pureed strawberry mixture in my glass each time, as you can see from the picture.