Why Do British People Make American Lemonade So Complicated?

Introduction

It’s soon going to be that time of year again when you fire up the grill and pour yourself a glass of American-style lemonade (or sweet tea!). And with that in mind I can’t help but notice a really surprising situation on YouTube with British YouTubers being curious about our lemonade. Why the fascination? Why is it so complicated? It’s just lemon juice, sugar, water, and ice cubes with option bonus flavors for more fun!

British vs. American Lemonade

Both British and Americans who stumble on to this post may be surprised to find out that both sides of the Atlantic ocean have really different definitions of what lemonade is. But why is that? As I started looking into this, I turned to one of my favorite YouTube sources for all things tasty + history!

From what Max mentions in his video, the UK actually had recipes for lemonade that were pretty similar to what us Yanks make every summer at least until the Victorian era. There’s an indication that Schweppes (yes as in the Ginger ale brand. It was started by an actual German man with that name!) created a fizzy lemon drink. And the name for it being lemonade stuck. This is primarily in the UK.

I will confess I wouldn’t mind trying the version of the drink Max does in his video since it includes orange in the recipe. It is still mostly lemons as the citrus in drink. I’m sure this would make a really tasty lemonde.

How do you make American lemonade?

For those of you who are British, a British YouTuber does a really delightful video explaining how to make American lemonade. But literally you just do the following:

1. Melt sugar.
2. Add to equal amounts of lemon juice.
3. Dilute with water,
4. Put in fridge to chill.
5. Pour ice in a glass and serve!

You can make fruit syrups and swap out sugar with this syrup to add more flavors to the drink. As Captain Meck does it, he made raspberry syrup to do a raspberry lemonade! Hm… I might try that this summer myself!

The recipe is so absurdly simple even children can make it. It’s not a made up thing in older movies and TV shows. It was a legit thing in a lot of small towns and neighborhoods across the United States. Imagine generations and probably millions of kids at this point had set up a little stand on their sidewalk or in front of their house. They made an icy, cold pitcher of lemonade to sell to passersby on a hot summer day.

If you’re British and haven’t tried making it, you should! It’s super simple and pretty refreshing when it actually get hot in the UK.

Why so complicated?

As an avid Youtube viewer, I follow plenty of channels on the site. It’s always fascinating to watch and share information with other people. What prompted me to write this in the first place is because of this video.

Now I’ve found Mr. H and his family pretty entertaining. Originally the channel was a “Brit reacts to…” type of channel. But he’s clearly got foodie traits and his reactions to American food made him try them out himself! In recent years, he’s removed reaction content and has changed the channel into something akin to “Brits Try…” channel. Plenty of stuff to try!

It’s a fun video, but as the majority American audience point out in the comments? You guys are making this harder than it really needs to be. Truthfully they were. Sure cutting the lemons make sense. But you definitely do not need to peel/zest the lemons. In fact the only reason why they did that was because they were using a juicer. Juicers generally work better if you get rid of the thick peels for certain things like lemons and oranges.

In fact if you read in the video description and also watch the video, the juicer was a promotional item. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s impressive when your channel, podcast, etc. gets big enough you get sponsorships and such. But it just creates misunderstandings of how the whole American lemonade thing works.

Adam is a pretty good example of that confusion. But this could also because this is Adam Couser being himself. I have noticed he has a history of not always paying attention to stuff he watched before.

Quite literally making American lemonade is just cut the lemons, squeeze, add sugar and water to taste. Ice optional. No need for a juicer unless you’re a restaurant making gallons.

Final Thoughts

I have to say I’m pretty entertained by this odd, but highly entertaining trend. There’s something to be said about how refreshing and simple the recipe is. The drink itself is tasty and certainly quenches the thirst of millions here in the United State every year. It’s fun seeing the power of the internet introduce a summer favorite around the world!

I should note that if you enjoyed the videos I linked above, I do highly recommend those two channels! Unfortunately Captain Meck hasn’t gotten back to posting videos in over a year. I do however recommend his channel just for the fun he clearly has with his kids.

Tasting History with Max Miller is another amazing channel to check out for all things food and drink with history! I have yet to purchase his cookbook, but I can totally vouch for how entertaining and informative Max is with his history content!

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