It looks like summer has finally arrived in Cork today and what better way to celebrate than with a glass of refreshing homemade lemonade. This is my cousin Sandie’s recipe which she kindly shared with me. This easy recipe makes enough for three lots of lemonade, just keep the syrup in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

To make the syrup:

Three lemongrass roughly chopped

1 pound/ 454grams/ 2 ¼ cups sugar

1 pint/ 568 millilitres/ 2 ½ cups water

Place all the above ingredients into a pot and boil over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. If you keep boiling it, it will become very thick which you don’t want to happen! Discard the lemongrass and chill your syrup until you are ready to use it.

To make the lemonade:

300millilitres/1 cup syrup

Juice of three lemons

1 litre/34 fluid ounces/ 2.2 UK pints sparkling water

Simply squeeze the lemons and combine with the syrup and sparkling water in a jug. Add ice and sliced lemons and serve in a tall glass!