Blackberry Limeade
It's never too early to think of a sweet refreshing glass of Blackberry Limeade. Memorial Day will be here before you know it and this Blackberry Limeade will make a perfect Memorial Day drink recipe. Nothing says summer is on it's way better than a glass of homemade limeade or homemade lemonade.
You could also use this same recipe to make a Blackberry Lemonade if you prefer lemons over limes.
This Blackberry Limeade is made with fresh squeezed lime juice and fresh blackberries that I had in the freezer. I was so excited when I found fresh blackberries that had been grown if Florida at Publix that I bought about 8 quarts.
We ate a few of those sweet blackberries right from the container and I stashed some in the freezer.
I bought a huge bag of limes at Sam's Club when I made my Strawberry Mojitos. I also made Blueberry Mojitos but that recipe isn't on the blog yet.
The leftover limes where in a bowl on the counter and I needed to use them before they went bad so I squeezed them all and put the juice in a mason jar in the refrigerator. I topped off a few glasses of iced tea with some of the lime juice.
While I was trying to figure out what I could make with the lime juice I remembered I had those frozen blackberries in the freezer. A lightbulb went off and here we have this Blackberry Limeade recipe.
The method to make a flavored limeade, flavored lemonade, flavored iced tea and even homemade soda is the same. You start with a fresh or frozen fruit like these blackberries and you make a simple syrup. A simple syrup is simple to make as the name suggests.
How to make Blackberry Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Directions
- Put all the ingredients into a medium sized saucepan.
- Heat on low until the sugar dissolves.
- Increase heat to medium and bring to a boil stirring occasionally so the sugar doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer 15-20 minutes, occasionally stirring and mashing the blackberries with the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and cool.
Now that you have your blackberry simple syrup made you can use it to flavor any drink you like.
Sugar-Free Blackberry Simple Syrup
You can also make a sugar free version using Splenda.
I made a sugar free blackberry simple syrup just to see how it would turn out using Splenda. I gave up soda almost a year ago and have been drinking unsweetened tea instead. I used the sugar-free blackberry simple syrup in my sweet tea and it tasted great.
Use the directions as above but reduce the simmering time to 5 minutes.
Blackberry Limeade
Ingredients
Blackberry Syrup
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Blackberry Limeade
- ice
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (adjust to taste)
- 1 cup blackberry syrup (adjust to taste)
- water
Instructions
Blackberry Simple Syrup
- Put the first 4 ingredients into a medium sized saucepan.
- Heat on low until sugar has dissolved.
- Increase heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer 15-20 minutes.
- Occasionally mash berries with a spoon.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Strain blackberry syrup through a fine mesh strainer.
- Makes 2 ½ cup blackberry simple syrup.
Make Blackberry Limeade
- Fill a quart size pitcher ¾ full with ice
- Add ½ to 1 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice and 1 cup or more blackberry syrup to the pitcher.
- Up to 2 cups of water into the pitcher to fill.
- Stir, taste to adjust the sweetness and flavor if needed by adding more blackberry simple syrup or lime juice.
- To serve pour over ice in a glass.
Nutrition
