Blueberries are very nutritious and can be put into almost any recipe. Here is a quick and simple recipe for a blue lemonade, perfect for hot summers!
The last recipe in the Red, White and Blue Lemonade Theme is the Blue Lemonade!
I have to admit that I couldn’t get the blue color right.
I tried with blueberries and blackberries to no avail. I crushed them, chopped them, pureed them and yet, I couldn’t get the blue color to appear on camera.
I have discovered that steaming red cabbage in hot water turns the water into a very beautiful blue shade. It doesn’t affect the taste of blue lemonade, so, I am going to use that as my natural food coloring when I need blue.
This blue lemonade is very electric and will definitely bring everyone to the lemonade stand
Are you as obsessed with fruity ice cubes as I am? Nothing helps battle the Florida heat like delicious tasting ice cubes.
For this recipe, I froze blueberries in ice cubes with water and then added them to the lemonade.
Check out this fancy cocktail ice cubes from tablespoon.com
What is your favorite ice cube recipe?
Related: See the Red Lemonade (using beets)
Blue Lemonade
Ingredients
For the Coloring
- 5 leaves Red cabbage
- Water to boil the red cabbage
For the Lemonade and ice cubes
- 4 Limes
- 4 Lemons
- 2 cups sugar (or to taste)
- 6 cups water
Instructions
Pre-Preparation
- Boil about 4-5 red cabbage leaves in hot water for about 30 seconds
- Discard the red cabbage leaves and use the water for the lemonade
For the Ice Cubes
- In an ice cube tray, add water to fill the holes
- Add 2 blueberries per cube
- Optional – add 2 drops of lemon juice per cube
- Store in the refrigerator overnight.
Preparation
- In a medium pan, add the red cabbage water and sugar and heat at medium heat, until all the sugar has melted.
- Juice both the lemons and limes.
- Strain the lemon and lime juice to make sure that there are no seeds
- Chill overnight, if you have the chance
I love the concept, unfortunately mine turned red, and it also tastes and smells like cabbage 🙁 I don’t think I can use the water, but it’s just a cabbage used to find out.
I did not get blue color as some of the other reviewers said. Lemonade turned red when I added lemon and lime juice.
First let me say it is very delicious however when I put in the lime and lemon juice it turned red and not blue.. what did I do wrong?
I really want to make blue lemonade with out having to use industrial food coloring,
I tried this recipe today – It didn’t work as much as the goal is to achieve a blue colored drink. I definitely didn’t get a BLUE lemonade but rather a very distinct and flashy *red* colored lemonade (that can be easily achieved by adding in a substantial amount of juiced strawberries, or any other common red fruits).
I suspect that this result is due to the fact that the blue’ish tint that comes off of the red cabbage’s leaves into the steaming water is not-at-all a stable coloring ingredient. The element from the cabbage that colors the water is chemically affected by the acidity level of any other ingredient added to it thus changing its color immediately from very deep dark purple (when boiled longer) through the somewhat “oceany” color ( when put into the hot water for 30 sec as suggested here in this recipe), all the way to the shiny red I got – when I added lemons and limes juice. I’m not a chemist but I spent a lot of time today experimenting and I managed to waste all the lemons and limes in my house – that was a lot (!), only to discover this beautiful-but-dissatisfying feature of the color from the red cabbage leaves. It was fascinating to see how rapidly the color changes to red as soon as I add the lemons – like a in a high school chemistry class but also frustrating because I didn’t get the blue lemonade I so desired :(.
The color change reaction of the cabbage water versus the pH levels can simply described as follows:
To achieve shades of red: add any acidic substance (like juice of lemons, limes, oranges, tangerines, pineapples etc.)
To bring out more blue hues: add an antacid.
I think this is a wrong method to color beverages, especially ones containing any acidic fruits or ingredients because there is no way to control the desired results. E.g. If you want a fizzy drink, even adding the slightest amount carbonated water would also affect the drinks’ color the very similarly to lemon – turning it right away into vivid purple or red. This method might work well, though, for coloring more solid kinds of foods like cupcake frosting or coconut powder.
I’ve found the following advice in a couple of other recipes mentioning the method of using red cabbage to make blue:
To strengthen the blue hue of the steamed water, add a tiny bit of baking soda (Say, Quarter teaspoon for pint ~), the baking soda is antacid and thus it neutralizes the red hues in the solution. If you use this method you can dye any kind of food that not acidic and also solid enough to quickly absorb the blue color and to fix it within its texture.
If there’s anything I missed or got wrong, please correct me.
Thank you, Lemonman. I am sorry to hear that you didn’t get the same hue. I do like your option of trying baking soda and will definitely see how it works.
Where did you find blue natural food coloring to buy? Please…
https://www.amazon.com/India-Tree-Natural-Decorating-bottles/dp/B000FNM5PU
Blue lemonade looks delicious and very nice, My blue loving daughter will like it, thanks for sharing with Hearth and Soul blog hop, pinning and highlighting on this week hop.
Thank you, Swathi. I love blue also! You daughter has great taste!
Your blue lemonade colour is so perfect..Looks really chilling. I made strawberry lemonade
Thank you so much, Vama! I love your Strawberry Lemonade too.
I love how creative this post is – the fact that you’ve celebrated 4th July by using the colours in a creative way. And wow that blue lemonade looks gorgeous, almost luminous.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Thank you so much, Lisa! This was definitely a fun experiment with colors. Your compliments make me happy!
you always see strawberry lemonade. i’ve never seen blueberry lemonade. it has a great, fun color. this is a great summer drink!
Thank you, Dinad. Yes, Strawberry is very common, but, i have seen blueberry lemonade. It was soooo good.
You did great with the food coloring 🙂
Thank you, Jesse
This is a delicious lemonade. I’ve been making all kinds of lemonades this summer, I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing with Foodie Friends Friday this week. Hope to see you again soon with another delicious recipe.
Joanne
Thank you, Joanne! So happy to be part of the Foodie Friday party! You will definitely see me again!
This and all previous lemonade really look irresistible, Gorgeous shot and awesome recipe. You’ve got such a healthy yummy blog here. 🙂
Thank you so much, Sadaf! You are very kind and I am glad that you like my recipes.
Beautiful color. I ran into the same blue problem when I was making my patriotic ice cubes, I had to resort to using food coloring too. Blue food is difficult but you pulled off a beautiful drink.
Thank you, Janette! I know what you mean by blue being difficult. I loved your patriotic ice cubes very much and it was a great idea.