lemonade

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

Calculate

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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Canada Day

July 1, 2009

in Miscellany

canadaday

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends and readers around the world.

The delightful photo is from Chocolate Mousse Kitchenware in Vancouver via Raincoaster, who’s also in Vancouver.

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Tacky Tyler Florence. Tacky

June 30, 2009
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At least Chef Tyler Florence came to his senses quickly and apologized. First he posted this on his Twitter account:

The Food Network star then realized how dreadful that appeared, posting an explanation and apology that remains his most recent tweet:

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Like most people, I appreciate knowing what I’m buying, but trying to get a knowledgable answer to a simple question — what is Certified Angus Beef? — forced me to find out on my own. I don’t eat steaks regularly so when I do, I like to treat myself to the best. One of the [...]


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Cartoon of the week – 6/28

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If I relied on television for news, I’d think only four things happened this week: another hypocritical family values politician got caught with his pants down and three celebrities died, each progressively more famous with the third often described as the most famous person on Earth.
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Here’s a different take on the express lane meals I wrote about in March. The Well blog at the New York Times posted a 10-ingredient shopping list this week that enables us to make five healthy meals. One quick trip to the supermarket and we’re set.
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Soy sauce, vinegar and garlic always say “adobo” to me, the Filipino combination I love. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you might have guessed when I posted photos and directions explaining how to butterfly a chicken, Cornish hen or turkey there would be a recipe coming that uses the technique. [...]


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How to: butterfly poultry

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This is a handy technique to have. I won’t call it a skill because there’s no learning curve; after you butterfly a chicken, turkey or Cornish hen once, you’ll know how forever. All you need are sharp kitchen shears, preferably the kind that come apart for easy, thorough cleaning.
Why butterfly poultry? Some recipes call for [...]


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Cartoon of the week – 6/21

June 21, 2009
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Here’s an interesting tidbit about American-Iranian relations that’s gone missing from most msm coverage: business is just fine, thank you. The Guardian’s live blog about Iran today quotes an AP snippet that Iranian imports of American goods have nearly doubled under President Obama. In the first four months of this year, Iran spent $96 million [...]


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Tomatoes and basil bruschetta

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The word “bruschetta” is from the Italian bruscare, which means “to roast over coals.” We Americans tend to call this mixture of tomatoes and fresh basil bruschetta, but we’re wrong when we do and I think something is gained in our botched translation. When I order bruschetta in a restaurant I get thick, toasted baguette [...]


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