Make Fair-Style Lemon Shake Ups at Home

Not only am I sharing a recipe for fair-style lemon-shake-ups, but I've also created a "system" to have the ingredients ready in your refrigerator, so you can make a lemon shake-up on demand, whenever the whim strikes you; or the kids. The secret to making lemon shake-ups at home lies in knowing the magic ratio: here it is:

Lemon Syrup: For every 1 lemon, add 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar.

Each Lemon Shake Up Needs 3-4 Tablespoons of Lemon Syrup.

Over the mixture has cooled, store the lemon syrup in a recycled wine bottle in your fridge. This makes it much easier to pour:

Now for the method:

Once you know the ratio, you can expand the recipe to serve a party, or keep a batch stored, ready to go, in your fridge. Here's the method.

1. Wash and scrub fresh lemons.
2. Make simple syrup by boiling sugar and water for 5 minutes.
3. Let syrup cool.
4. Have your kids roll the lemons around on the counter to soften the pulp so the lemons will be juicer. Or, microwave lemons for about 5 seconds, to warm-up the lemon so that the juices will come out easily.
5. Cut lemon in half, and squeeze the juice. Rachel Ray swears by holding the cut side of the lemon up, and squeezing with your hand, and the seeds won't drop into the bowl. I prefer to use my simple lemon-juicer tool -- it pulls out lots of juice, catches the seeds, and the pulp, before it ever hits the bowl. It's metal, and sturdy-enough for a kid to use.
6. Strain lemon juice to eliminate the pulp -- if any.
7. Once the syrup is cool, add the freshly-squeezed lemon juice to the syrup.
8. Cover and refrigerate.
9. When you're ready for your Lemon Shake Up, fill glasses with ice water. (Or fair-style paper cups, if you really want to be authentic.)
10. Add two tablespoons of the lemon syrup to each glass.
11. Stir vigorously, or find a way to cover the glass and shake.
12. Scrub a fresh lemon, and cut lemon into slices.
13. Add lemon slices to the top of each glass, or use a greater to add fresh lemon peel.