Easy Homemade Berry Lemonade

Directions

• Rinse all the berries. Remove the stems from the strawberries and cut them into large chunks.
• In a medium saucepan, stir together the strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and sugar.
• Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the berries are very juicy and starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
• Use an immersion (“stick”) blender to blend the berries in the saucepan. The berries do not need to be perfectly smooth, just broken down into very small pieces. Alternatively, mash the berries very well using a potato masher.
• Pour the berry mixture into a fine mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon to press the berry mixture into the mesh to help it strain faster. Stop once most of the liquid has been removed and you can see mostly berry seeds and pulp. You should have about 1 ⅔ cups liquid.
• Place the berry mixture into the fridge to begin cooling. Meanwhile, juice the lemons and pour the 1 cup lemon juice into a pitcher.
• Remove the berry mixture from the fridge. (It does not need to be perfectly chilled at this point, just no longer hot). Add it to the pitcher with the lemon juice.
• Stir in 2 ½ – 3 cups of water, to taste (see note 3). Place lemonade in the fridge until chilled. The lemonade will keep well in the fridge, covered, for 3 – 4 days.