The Best Herbs To Instantly Elevate Mediocre Lemonade

For many people, summer equals lemonade. Hot days cry for ice-cold citrusy drinks, and lemons have just the right amount of sweet, sour, and thirst-quenching power. But don't underestimate those lively lemon lovelies — they can also serve as a base for wildly varying twists on traditional lemonade. And that includes Mother Nature's contribution of leaves and edible flowers generally known as herbs.

Mediocre lemonade is a thing of past. And don't even think about the powdered stuff — not when you have the earth's most delicate, fragrant, and flavorful offerings waiting to flavor your homemade (or even store-bought) lemonades. They'll instantly elevate blasé lemonade into a creative concoction worthy of namesake monikers. You can go light, earthy, aromatic, spicy, or zesty, with herbs ranging from basil to mint, thyme, rosemary, dill, and dozens more edible herbs you may have overlooked.

Broaden your palate even more by bringing fruits and honeys to the herbal-citrus party, resulting in botanical lemonade infusions. Think peaches, strawberries, mangos, melons, pineapples, or wherever path your imagination leads. Pairing lemon juice with herbs (and optionally with fruits) can be a delicate art form. But you're the artist and can brush that stroke in any direction you choose.

Some herbs have already established themselves as lemon compatriots, tried and tested by many adventurous lemonade connoisseurs. Mint tops the list, well-known for its contribution to light, refreshing cocktails such as mojitos and mint juleps. Its role in perking up a glass of fresh lemonade is similar. A quick muddle of four to eight mint leaves will release the flavor into your favorite lemonade mixture. (Adding crushed ice helps keep the leaves at bay while you're sipping and slurping you way to citrusy herbal heaven.)

A Mediterranean style of mint lemonade calls for tossing all of your chosen ingredients, including chopped mint leaves and skin-on lemons, into a blender for a dense, frothy mint lemonade. Another quality of mint-infused lemonade is its compatibility with berries, peaches, and tropical fruits, such as mangos and papayas, which you can add in mashed form or as a floating garnish.

A similar process works for other common lemonade-herb infusions, including basil leaves, which add a slightly sweet, peppery flavor that blends well with blueberries and honey. Experiment with different types of basil to find the nuances you love in Thai, Genovese, sweet, purple, lemon, and lime basil leaves. Other go-to herbs for lemonade include rosemary, lemon verbena, thyme, dill, and even cilantro.

After reaching your comfortable level with botanical lemonade blending, you can experiment even more. (Remember, one glass at a time is plenty until you find a combo worthy of a full-centerpiece pitcher.) One easy way to mix things up is to by creating herbal blends, such as dill, mint, and rosemary. A smooth honey (preferably raw) helps even out the herbal notes while sweetening with earthy flavor. Try adding honey to boiling water and letting it dissolve into a sweetened "honey water" that's easy to blend with other ingredients once cooled.

Then there are the often-overlooked flowering herbs, including lavender. It's part of the same aromatic mint family as basil, thyme, oregano, marjoram, lemon balm, hyssop, and mint, making it compatible with lemon juice, as well as with its other botanical members. Infusing lemonade with lavender may tap into some of lavender's touted health benefits, including the potential for boosting vitamin benefits and reducing anxiety and insomnia.

For a milder flavor infusion in your fresh or pre-mixed lemonade, try freezing herbs into ice cubes, letting them melt into your drink gradually. Pair compatible fruits and herbs, such as strawberries with mint or rosemary, cilantro with mango or melons, and mint with passion fruit, in the same cubes. Have some family fun by letting kids create lemonade concoctions, or throw a hands-on grownup party for making boozy botanical lemonade cocktails.