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Sparkling Meyer Lemon Mocktail

This mocktail is a refreshing twist on lemonade made as a gentle sunrise drink. It’s mildly sweet from simple syrup in both the lemonade and the grenadine. Garnish with pomegranate seeds for a festive pop of red on top to echo the pink on the bottom. 
Course Beverage
Cuisine American
Keyword easy recipe, grenadine, lemonade, Meyer lemonade, mocktail, pomegranate syrup and seeds, stovetop, sunrise lemonade
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Beth Allingham of www.amealinmind.com

Ingredients

For the lemonade:

  • ¼ cup simple syrup ¼ cup of each of white cane sugar and water, warmed until sugar dissolves
  • ¼ cup Meyer lemon juice about 1-2 large Meyer lemons
  • 3 ½ cups sparkling water one 750 mL bottle unflavored Pellegrino or your favorite

For the sparkling mocktail, per glass:

  • 1 to 1 ½ cups of sparkling Meyer lemonade depending on the size of your glasses (fill to about 1 inch from the rim)
  • 1-2 tablespoons grenadine
  • 5 small ice cubes
  • 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

Instructions

For the lemonade

  • 1. To make the "simple syrup", place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Stir so that the sugar dissolves completely, about 5 minutes, and remove from heat.
  • 2. While the simple syrup is heating, juice the lemons. Depending on the size of the lemons, 1 to 3 of them should be enough for ¼ cup of juice.
  • 3. Pour the juice and the simple syrup into a serving pitcher. Allow to chill before adding the Pellegrino. This will keep the Pellegrino from losing as much fizz when it's poured into the lemon/simple syrup mixture. 
  • 4. Pour the Pellegrino into the lemon juice/simple syrup mixture and taste. Remember that the grenadine will sweeten it a bit, and when you add ice, it will melt and naturally dilute the lemonade. This mixture is to our taste. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.
  • 4 Chill: Refrigerate 15-20 minutes.

For the mocktail

  • Pour the cold lemonade into the glass.
  • Pour the grenadine into each glass - it will sink to the bottom.
  • Add the ice cubes carefully so as not to stir up the grenadine layer from the bottom.
  • Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top of the ice cubes (some will sink). Enjoy!

Notes

Grenadine is pomegranate juice, sometimes with other juices, combined with sugar or simple syrup. It is denser than the lemonade because the sugar concentration is higher. You can add more to make a more intensely sunset-like drink, but remember that it will then be sweeter, too.