Lemonade

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This article is about the drink made with lemons. For other uses, see Lemonade (disambiguation).

Lemonade.

Lemonade is a soft drink that is made with lemons. In the U.S. and Canada, lemonade refers to an uncarbonated mixture of lemon juice, sugar, and water. The addition of grenadine makes for the traditional variant called Pink Lemonade. In the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, the term mainly refers to a clear, carbonated, sweet lemon-flavoured soft drink. In India it is commonly referred to as "Nimbu Paani" meaning "Lemon Water" and is sold by many streets vendors, especially in North India.

1 History
2 United States of America
3 United Kingdom
4 Ireland
5 Flavors
6 External links and references
7 See also

[edit] History

Lemonade, in its uncarbonated form, is among the oldest of commercial soft drinks, dating at least back to the 17th century. In Paris in 1676, a business called the Compagnie de Limonadiers was formed and granted monopoly rights to sell lemonade, which their vendors dispensed in cups from tanks carried upon their backs. [1] The French term limonade has since come to mean "soft drink" in many languages.

[edit] United States of America

Lemonade in the US is a drink enjoyed mainly in the summer but at other times of the year as well. Lemonade is thin but has a lot of added sugar. It can be very concentrated or diluted.

[edit] United Kingdom

In the UK, the name lemonade usually refers to a drink that is carbonated, clear, and contains either natural or artificial lemon flavour. It is very similar in taste and appearance to drinks such as 7 Up and Sprite, but without the additional lime flavour. When mixed, lemonade and beer produce a shandy. Lemonade is also an important ingredient in the Pimm's Cup cocktail, and a popular drink mixer.

The drink that Americans call lemonade is fairly common in the UK as a 'home made' drink (also referred to as lemonade), but is virtually unknown as a commercial product; its closest commercial equivalent is carbonated and known as 'cloudy' or 'traditional' lemonade. There are also two similar uncarbonated products, lemon squash and lemon barley water, both of which are usually sold as a syrup which is diluted to taste with water.

In Great Britain in the 1970s lemonade was not considered a glamorous product. This was deliberately parodied in a television commercial for R. White's lemonade, in which a man sneaks downstairs in his pajamas singing "I'm a secret lemonade drinker — I'm trying to give it up but it's one of those nights." When his wife catches him at the refrigerator he sheepishly offers her a glass. The commercial was a huge success and ran for almost a decade, although later attempts to revive the campaign were less successful.

[edit] Ireland

In Ireland, lemonade refers to the carbonated, lemon-flavored soft drink but is further sub-divided into white lemonade and red lemonade. White lemonade equates to the colorless fizzy lemonade common in many countries, while red lemonade is particular to Ireland. Red lemonade differs slightly in taste from white lemonade and is either drank neat or as part of a whiskey mixer. It is also red.

[edit] Flavors

Some distributors of lemonade have taken it to the next level. By adding flavored syrup, they transform the lemonade and give it a fruity twist. Common fruit flavors are strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, chocolate, and kiwifruit.

[edit] External links and references

Of the Street Sale of Ginger-Beer, Sherbet, Lemonade,&C., from London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1, Henry Mayhew, 1851; subsequent pages cover the costs and income of street lemonade sellers.