Juice up on squashed lemons

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Relationship coach, wellness mentor and crushing bore Dale Carnegie once said: "If life gives you lemons, throw them at a Tory politician."  Or something along those lines. Although this blog aims to be timeless, it is difficult to ignore the particularly spiteful virus doing its world tour at time of writing.

It could be said we have all been given lemons... so what to do?  Well, make not lemonade, but lemon squash!  Truly simple to make, packed with Vitamin C and with a very long shelf life.  What's not to like?

You can substitute other citrus fruits to make your very own concentrated fruit syrup, to be diluted later with ice-cold water or soda.  Oranges, limes, grapefruit - all work equally splendidly - but quantities may vary according to personal taste.  The recipe below is merely a guide - feel free to adjust sugar or fruit content, it's entirely up to you.

For a yield of roughly 500ml of squash concentrate, you will need:

• 6 to 8 lemons
• 200g white sugar
• Sliced lemon pieces, for serving

Method:

• Dissolve sugar in a bowl with a small splash of rapidly boiling water straight from the kettle
• Squeeze the fruit and strain.  Your humble narrator did this by hand, but fancy juicers can do the trick
• Mix sugar syrup and fruit juice in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring occasionally
• Cool to room temperature before transferring to refrigerator
• The finished product should be served chilled, or with ice, diluted approximately 1 part squash to four parts water.  Or to taste