Meyer Lemon Ginger Honey Lemonade
This is one of my all time favorite beverages besides water or beer. This lemonade will help cure a cold! Ginger is a powerful antiviral and anti-inflammatory. Also, this is a great tonic if you have any kind of stomach ailment. The heat of the spicy ginger kills bad bugs in your gut. I drink it because the combination of sweet honey, tart lemon and spicy ginger is so yum! I need to make more of this today because now I'm craving it.
Slice a big piece of ginger root, about 3 or 4 inches, and simmer in 4-6 cups of water for 35 to 45 minutes. Cool to lukewarm, then add 4 tablespoons fresh local honey*. Strain into a pitcher of of ice. Add fresh lemon slices and lots of fresh lemon juice. I used Meyer lemons from the tree in our back yard. I love my Meyer lemon tree! I've had it for a long time and it's a great plant.
*Locally produced honey supposedly helps with allergies when the spring bloom happens. It has to do with bees & pollen and science. Or it's a wives tale. I'm not sure. It seems to work for me though. I used to have terrible spring allergies and they're not so bad anymore. I buy it at the health food store or the farmers market. If the trees are budding out where you live and you're sneezing your face off, get some locally produced honey. This would be honey where the bees and the hive are in your neighborhood or thereabouts, maybe within a 100 mile radius? Not positive. Anyway, we drizzle it on ice cream and oatmeal and use it to sweeten home made salad dressing. Bees are awesome.