Water, sugar and lemon juice: The recipe hasnt changed much in more than 1,000 years. Tart or sweet, pink or yellow, clear, cloudy or carbonated, for as long as life has been handing out lemons, people the world over — from the ancient Egyptians to Beyoncé — have been making lemonade.
The exact origin of the lemon itself has not been easy to ascertain, but new research has clarified its lineage as a sour orange and citron hybrid. A February 2018 study in the science journal Nature reveals that the discovery of fossilized leaves in the Yunnan province of China proves citrus has been around since the late Miocene epoch, some 8 million years ago.
Lemonade is called “lemonade” and not “lemon juice” like “orange juice”; because it is a mixture of lemon juice, sugar and water, which is why it’s called “lemonade.” Orange juice and apple juice mixed with water and sugar could be called orangeade.
An Ancient Lineage
The earliest record of the precursor to lemonade hails from the Mediterranean coast of medieval Egypt. Kashkab was made from fermented barley combined with mint, rue, black pepper and citron leaf. Next time youre at the juice bar, ask your mixologist to whip you up a frothy mug of kashkab! Or how about a shot of sweet and tangy qatarmizat instead? Thanks to the chronicles of poet and traveler Nasir-i-Khusraw, who wrote accounts of 10th-century Egyptian life, and to Jewish books and documents in the Cairo Genizah, we know that the medieval Jewish community in Cairo consumed, traded and exported bottles of the sugary lemon juice concoction called qatarmizat through the 13th century.
While the citron (like a lemon but larger, with a super thick rind and not much pulp or juice) was likely known by the ancient Jews and throughout the Mediterranean before the time of Christ, theres no proof that lemons were around in pre-Islamic times. The mosaics of Rome and frescoes of Pompeii depict s of citrus fruits resembling lemons and oranges, but theres no paleobotanical or written evidence that they existed there. The earliest written reference to the lemon tree is in a 10th-century Arabic book on farming by Qustus al-Rumi. And in the late 12th century, Ibn Jami, the personal physician to the Muslim leader Saladin, wrote a treatise on the lemon, bringing it to the attention of a wider Mediterranean audience.
Lemons Show Up In Paris …
Flash forward to 17th century Europe. Lemonade debuted in Paris on August 20, 1630. Made of sparkling water, lemon juice and honey, vendors sold it from tanks strapped to their backs. While popular across Europe, lemonade became so fashionable in Paris that in 1676 the vendors incorporated and formed a union called the Compagnie de Limonadiers. The lemonade craze even helped Paris fend off the plague.
Britains contribution to the lemonade craze came by way of chemist Joseph Priestley who invented an apparatus for making carbonated water. By the 1780s, Johann Schweppe, a German-Swiss jeweler, had developed a new method of carbonation using a compression pump that made mass production more efficient. By the 1830s, ready availability of Schweppes fizzy lemonade had stymied the growth of Europes lemonade stands.
NEVER Use Bottled Lemon Juice! Here’s why…
FAQ
Is lemon juice and lemonade the same thing?
How did lemonade get its name?
Why is it called orange juice and not Orangeade?
Why is ade at the end of lemonade?
Why is it called Lemonade?
You just squeeze or in some other way extract the juices from other fruits, but lemonade has to be made, so it gets called lemonade. I don’t understand. Lemon juice isn’t called lemonade, its called lemon juice. Lemonade is a carbonated drink that’s lemon flavoured. Carbonated apple flavoured drinks are called appleade.
Is bottled lemon juice the same as drinking lemon water?
No. As bottled lemon juice has been pasteurized, many of the enzymes and nutrients are killed during this process. Bottled lemon juice, usually contains a mixture of water and citric acid with lemon flavor or very little lemon juice. So, if you want the natural healthy benefits of this drink, you need to use a real lemon.
Is lemonade a juice?
Lemonade is technically a juice cocktail, not a juice. This is because it contains lemon juice, but is not primarily composed of it. Lemonade is just lemonade. Is lemonade a healthy drink?
What makes Lemonade different from simple lemon juice?
Key Components That Differentiate Lemonade from Simple Lemon Juice: The secret sauce that elevates lemonade from a mere citrus infusion lies in the thoughtful combination of its components. Unlike plain lemon juice, lemonade is a concoction that transcends the sum of its parts.