We lemonade lovers know the best lemonade begins with simple syrup, which is water and sugar brought to a boil and cooled. When sugar’s not allowed or desired, it’s far too easy to reach for artifically-sweetened mix that makes a lemony beverage but one that really doesn’t taste much like lemonade and leaves a nasty aftertaste. No more.

Most artificial sweeteners are not heat-stable but granular sucralose, widely sold under the name Splenda, is. I wondered if it could be used in a simple syrup and a quick check of its website turned up one recipe that does. It’s a good lemonade recipe, sweet but not overly so; the lemon shines through.

Granular sucralose is safe for diabetics and is created partially with sucrose. It’s not natural. It has its critics, including the Sugar Association which has a website called The Truth About Splenda, although most supermarket chains also sell their own brand, priced lower. Unlike sugar, sucralose is not hygroscopic, meaning it does not attract and retain moisture. For that reason, baked goods made purely with sucralose tend to be dry and differently-textured. I wouldn’t bake with it but if my choice were between a sucralose cookie and none at all because of sugar, you can bet I’d make the cookies and be grateful for a safe substitute.

This makes a lot of lemonade, a half gallon. To try it, I cut the recipe in half with no problems and I’ll give the amounts for both, but next time I’ll make the full amount. It’s really good — with no aftertaste.

Sweet Sugar-Free Lemonade

Via Splenda

Full recipe

1 3/4 cups/40g SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
8 cups/1895 ml water (divided!)
1 1/2 cups/355 ml lemon juice

In a small saucepan, combine SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Half recipe

7/8 cup/20g granulated sucralose
4 cups/ 950 ml water, divided
3/4 cup/180 ml lemon juice

Proceed as above, but mixing all the sucralose and 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the water to make the simple syrup in the first step.

Ella’s Notes – Count on 2 to 3 TB of juice from each lemon (choose the heaviest for more juice) and they’ll yield the most if you roll each lemon on the counter, pressing with the palm of your hand, before cutting it.

For some reason simple syrup, made with sugar or sucralose, always takes far longer than plain water to come to a boil. I suppose if I’d paid more attention in chemistry class I might know why, but I didn’t and I don’t. If you know why, please educate me in comments!

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