a welcome drink – traditional batrouni lemonade (laymounada batrounye)

Batroun is a touristic destination in North Lebanon. My home town, a major destination for the beautiful beaches and the vibrant nightlife.

Batroun is known for its fresh lemonade, which is sold by most of the cafés and restaurants in the town. This simple drink made from lemons, sugar and water has many variations in different parts of the world.

This version is the famous batrouni one:

• juice of 4 big lemons (1 1/2 cup)
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups cold water

All i can say It’s about the technique:

• Wash the lemons and cut in four.
• Add the sugar and squeeze the lemon wedges with your hands until they release half of the juice.
• Add the zest of one large lemon and let the mix stands in the fridge for 15 minutes
• Take it out and totally squeeze the lemons, strain the juice, add the water and mix until the sugar is totally melted. Et voila!

The most refreshing and succulent lemonade.

Some like it more diluted, or more sweet or less sweet… It’s subject to taste. You can add orange blossom water too if you want to take it to another level. As you can add few mint leaves, but the traditional one is the simplest basic one.

If you have people visiting, a pitcher of fresh homemade lemonade is a traditional welcome drink especially on hot summer days!

Daily consumption of 120 ml of lemon juice per day, when mixed with two liters of water, has been shown to reduce the rate of stone formation in people susceptible to kidney stone.

Batroun has the largest cup of lemonade (more than 5000 liters) to break Guinness world record! Enjoy and regards from Lebanon 🙂