How do you make lemonade that isn't too sweet?

A lot of lemonade is really sugar water with a lemony accent. The good stuff tastes sharp, fragrant and cold, with just enough sweetness to round off the acid. Getting there is mostly about control: add sweetness gradually, get aroma from the zest rather than from more sugar, and taste before you decide it is done.

Why syrup beats sugar

Sugar dissolves badly in cold liquid. Stir it into a jug of iced lemon juice and much of it sits at the bottom, so the first glasses taste sour, you add more, and the last glass is syrupy. Making a simple syrup first solves that.

• How: warm sugar with an equal volume of water in a small pan, stirring until it dissolves and the liquid turns clear. No need to boil it hard. Let it cool.
• Why it helps: syrup mixes instantly, so you can add it a splash at a time, taste, and stop the moment it is right.

Keep the syrup in a clean jar in the fridge and it will be ready for the next batch, or for iced tea and fruit salads.

Zest for aroma

Lemon juice brings the sourness. The perfume of a lemon lives in the oils of the zest (our guide on zest versus juice explains the difference). Using both makes lemonade taste more of lemon without needing extra sweetness to carry it.

• Infuse the syrup. Peel strips of zest with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the white pith, and drop them into the syrup while it is still warm. Leave them to steep as it cools, then strain.
• Rub the zest into the sugar. Before making the syrup, rub finely grated zest into the sugar with your fingertips until it smells fragrant, then dissolve it.

Unwaxed lemons are best when you use the peel. If yours are waxed, scrub them in hot water first. And keep the pith out: it brings bitterness (see lemon zest without bitterness).

Balancing by taste

There is no single right ratio, because lemons vary. Some are fierce, some mild and juicy. So we build it in stages:

1. Squeeze the juice and strain out the seeds.
2. Add cold water, more than you think, so it is clearly too sour but drinkable.
3. Add syrup a splash at a time, stirring and tasting, until the sharpness is balanced but still lively.
4. Add a tiny pinch of salt. It will not taste salty; it rounds the edges.
5. Chill well and serve over plenty of ice, which dilutes it a little more.

In our experience cold mutes sweetness, so taste it cold. A lemonade that is perfect at room temperature may taste flat over ice, and one that seems slightly too sharp warm can be just right very cold.

Less sweet without being sour

• Use a mix of lemon and another citrus. A little orange or blood orange juice adds natural sweetness and colour.
• Add aromatics: a few mint leaves, a sprig of basil or rosemary, a slice of fresh ginger in the syrup.
• Use sparkling water. Bubbles make a drink feel livelier, so it needs less sugar to seem balanced.
• Use a little honey syrup instead of sugar syrup, for flavour as well as sweetness.

Italian-style lemon soda at home

A summer in Italy usually involves a cold, bitter-edged lemon soda at a café table. You can make your own version: a spoonful or two of zest-infused syrup and a squeeze of lemon in a tall glass, topped up with very cold sparkling water and plenty of ice. For a more grown-up, bittersweet take, add a strip of grapefruit peel to the syrup, or a dash of non-alcoholic bitters.

For something frozen instead, the same lemon syrup is the base of a lemon granita: see what is granita.