Dehydrated Lemon & Strawberry Lemonade
This was such a fun experiment! I have been curious lately to try dehydrating fruits and veggies to save for various uses later. I was actually inspired by some mixes that were created for alcoholic drinks that had used dried fruits and thought what a great idea it would be to have all the supplies to make my favorite warm weather drink: strawberry lemonade!
Drying the fruit with a dehydrator is super simple, just follow your machine’s directions for temperature and drying time. I dehydrate my fruit at around 158° F for about 10 hours. Here is where we got our dehydrator (LINK).
how to make lemonade with dehydrated fruit:
Add 1/2 cup of raw sugar, 1/2 cup dried strawberries, 3-4 dried lemon slices, and the juice of 2 large lemons to a carafe.
Fill the carafe with water, stir and let sit for approx 30 minutes to really let those strawberries release their flavor.
Drink fresh poured over ice and refrigerate until all used up!
You are probably wondering “why not just used fresh strawberries in the first place?” That’s a valid question. To begin, this time of year in the Heartland means we will not be able to enjoy fresh strawberries until mid to late June. This is a fun way to enjoy fruit that we preserved last summer and a good use for dehydrated strawberries, if you are sick of eating them as a snack!
Fresh strawberries definitely make a really delicious fruity drink. One of the benefits of dehydrating the strawberries is that they have an extremely long shelf life if stored properly in an airtight container - we are talking years! I cannot tell you how many times I have thrown out strawberries and other fruits or veggies that I didn’t get to in time. It’s annoying and expensive to waste any food! If strawberries and lemons are getting a bit ripe, you can simply dehydrate them and save them for when they are needed.
Making use of a good food dehydrator doesn't take much effort to learn how to use, and you’ll be storing and packing your dehydrated food in no time. Plus, your family will benefit from the nutritional snacks available to them as well as having ingredients readily available at all times without fear of it spoiling too quickly.
xx Jill
