smoking

I smoked these beautiful lemons at 220° for an hour using a mix of charcoal and pecan and then we squeezed them to make an amazing lemonade that held a richer flavor, without losing any of the bright citrus tang. I’ve included a straightforward lemonade recipe below, but there are many great recipes out there that you can use as a base.

Five lemons will give you about one cup of juice, resulting in six servings of lemonade when all is said and done. The steps below are built on this estimate.

1. Cut lemons in half and place them in a pan(s) that will fit in your smoker. . Disposable pie pans work well, as it may be easier to position them around the meat in the smoker. I placed some cut-side down and others cut side up to even out the amount of smoke they would absorb.
2. Smoke them for about an hour at 220°, reduce the time if you’re already cooking at a higher temp.
3. Pull them from the smoker and let them cool.
4. While they cool, make a simple syrup by heating 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves completely.
5. Squeeze the now-cool lemons into a pitcher
6. Pour the syrup into the pitcher along with 3 cups of cold water (you can add more later if it’s too strong, but you’ll likely add ice too).

For an added adult-only twist, you can add bourbon, either in the pitcher or per-glass, to your taste.

Hat tip to Leesa for the inspiration!