Dissolve the sugar in the cold water in a small jug, stirring until no grains remain at the bottom.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 6 lemons)
- 1 large bunch fresh spearmint, leaves picked (about 2 packed cups)
- 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 4 cups ice cubes
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon verbena or basil leaves (optional)
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- Thin lemon wheels, to garnish
- Mint sprigs, to garnish
Instructions
- Dissolve the sugar in the cold water in a small jug, stirring until no grains remain at the bottom.
- Reserve a few of the smallest mint leaves for garnish and put the rest in a blender with the lemon juice, sugar syrup and the pinch of salt.
- Blend for 20 seconds only — just long enough to break down the leaves. Over-blending mint releases bitter compounds and turns the drink swampy rather than bright green.
- Add the ice and the optional lemon verbena and blend again in short pulses until you have a coarse, spoonable slush, not a smooth puree.
- Taste and adjust: it should be sharply sour first, sweet second, with the mint arriving last and lingering. Add a splash of water if it is too intense to drink.
- Pour into chilled glasses straight away — limonana separates within a few minutes and is at its best the moment it comes out of the blender.
- Garnish with a lemon wheel, the reserved mint leaves and a sprig, and serve with a spoon as well as a straw.
- Limonana got its name from a fake advertising campaign in 1990s Tel Aviv — a bus-stop mystery for a product that did not exist, which worked so well that cafes started making it for real. The name fuses limon and nana, lemon and mint, and it is now genuinely everywhere in Israel and across the Levant. Peak summer is its moment: the mint is at its most aromatic, and nothing else does quite as much for the heat.
Nutrition (estimated, per serving)
- Calories: 120 kcal
- Protein: 1g
- Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 31g
- Fiber: 1g
- Sugar: 27g
- Sodium: 45mg
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