Iced Tea and Lemonade - when volume counts!

Hi,

I have an event coming up where I will need a quantity of lemonade and iced tea to satisfy 100-150 people. I am considering two ideas: buy it or make it myself.

If I bought jugs of lemonade and iced tea, what are some preferred brands I could buy by the gallon?

Should I consider buying frozen lemonade concentrate and mixing it? I personally like my lemonade with some pulp rather than filtered.

Is there a trick to steeping tea in quantity for an event?

Whatever knowledge you can offer will be appreciated.

Regards,

Can't help you with tea, but I frequently make 3-gallon batches (sometimes with repeats) of fruit punch and lemonade for local outdoor events. I've had pretty good luck with the frozen concentrates, which do offer some pulp - I usually slice up some fruit and add it to the batch (oranges for fruit punch, lemons for lemonade), but add at the last minute so the pith doesn't make it bitter. I also freeze water in a couple gallon ziplocs, rather than smaller cubes which melt faster. I use a 2 or 3-gallon keg-style cooler (feel free to PM if you want to borrow) with the spout. I think I bought the last batch at the Aldi, and particularly liked it. I haven't tried it, but Cascadian Farms has an "organic" version that I think I've seen at Whole Foods, which is sweetened with grape juice rather than sugar and might be good. IIRC, you need about 3 cans to the gallon.

Refilling is easy provided you have somewhere very cold to keep the concentrate and ice, and a source of potable water. It barely needs a stir, unless it's frozen really hard.

I also found this recipe to make your own frozen juice concentratethat's not really pertinent, but I'll throw in just for fun.

I like frozen lemonade concentrate best of all the lemonade methods that don't start with fresh lemons. I haven't done this, but another idea might be to buy frozen lemon juice, if you can find a source that will sell it retail.

Here is a recipe for 5 gallons of iced tea, starting with the Lipton Cold Brew pitcher-size bags. I have not tried those either.

Last time we did this for lemonade we used frozen conc plus added some fresh fruit to punch up the flavor. One thing we did though was to rent a few iced drink dispensers in which we mixed the lemonade. IIRC we used a 3 gall size similar to the black ones here

Hi,

Thanks for the ideas so far. One thing came back loud and clear: unless you are making lemonade yourself, frozen concentrate is the next best thing.

MHays - Thanks for the idea for the 3-gallon cooler. I may borrow it from you, if I cannot snag one from the local soccer team.

Regards,

Happy to help LMK!

Cathy2 wrote:Should I consider buying frozen lemonade concentrate and mixing it? I personally like my lemonade with some pulp rather than filtered.
Regards,

GFS Marketplace sells Minute Maid Lemonade 7-1 concentrate for about $2.50/ container. It has pulp although I generally slice a few lemons and toss them in the punch bowl.

Lemonade concentrate is probable the best choice. It is the best price for for the amount you are getting. And you can always vary the recipe depending on how tart you like your lemonade. As for iced tea, arizona iced tea is amazing, but in large quantities, you could always buy some sun tea or some instant Lipton iced tea packs.

America's Test Kitchen recently did a special on store-bought lemonade. The favorite was Newman's Own, although I suppose buying multiple cartons of that might be cost-prohibitive.

A while ago I bought a liter bottle of Italian Volcano Lemon Juice at Costco. It's organic, has no preservatives and isn't made from concentrate. I sort of bought it by accident, on impulse, and hadn't opened it when I noticed the "best by" date was coming up soon.

Anyway, we were out of lemons and I wanted something tart and refreshing yesterday, so I mixed about 1/4-1/3 cup of it with a like amount of bar sugar and a can of seltzer and it made a pretty good lemon soda -- not the same as one from fresh lemon juice, certainly, but quite acceptable on its own and probably even better with some fresh lemons added. The flavor was similar to San Pellegrino Limonata.

So consider this juice if you need bulk lemonade or simply want a resource for quick emergency lemon soda.

LAZ wrote:So consider this juice if you need bulk lemonade or simply want a resource for quick emergency lemon soda.

This is good to know! There are a couple of things I keep on hand in case the fresh version spoils: frozen garlic from Trader Joe's, canned red peppers (or I freeze my own roasted ones) but I haven't found a replacement for lemon juice that's even close; even the frozen ones have a funny flavor...I'll have to try it!

I'll agree that it's a pretty good lemon juice, but it's still a far cry from the real thing. I usually drink my lemon juice in ice water, and there's a very dramatic difference between RealLemon, the Costco stuff, and fresh squeezed lemon juice. But as bulk lemon juice goes, it's really very decent, and it's useful in a pinch.

Right - there's very rare instances when fresh isn't better, but it's nice to have a backup when you're halfway through, say, Chicken Piccata, and found that your husband used the last lemon to garnish his drink

One thing to bear in mind is that this stuff has to be used within a few months of purchase, as well as refrigerated after opening.

Cathy I'm in Deerfield and Also have a big 3 or 5 gal cooler for drinks you are welcome to borrow.
Let me know-I can PM you my address and leave it on my porch before I go to work tomorrow

Cathy, this might be too late for you, but... Joy of Cooking has a recipe with a title you might find encouraging: "Lemonade for 100 People." It's on page 45 of my 1975 edition.

On a somewhat smaller scale, but perhaps adaptable for your purposes, I've had great success with making lemonade syrup, also based on Joy's recipe. It ends up as a sort of lemonade concentrate, but tastes far better than the frozen stuff.

Bring to a boil for a couple of minutes: 3/4 C. water, 1 C. honey, 1/4 C. sugar, strips of zest from 2 lemons, pinch of salt. (After the boil, I usually pour it off into a quart Ball jar and drown a few sprigs of lemon verbena in the mix.)

Let it cool down, then add the juice of 6 or 7 lemons. Stir well.

Makes something over 4 cups. Stashed in the fridge, it keeps for weeks. A few tablespoons in a glass topped off with ice or soda water does the trick.