What do you do when life gives you lemons (or limes, for that matter)? Make lemon juice, of course! But what if life gives you a bunch of lemons? Chop 'em up and freeze them into ice cubes so you can enjoy fresh lemonade/ limeade whenever you want! In this instructable, I'll show you how to prepare limes and mint leaves in order have a refreshing glass of cold limeade on hot summer day.

Let's get started!

Step 1: Ingredients

For this recipe, you will need:

Mint Leaves

Limes or lemons. (I found that one medium sized lemon or lemon yield about 3 tablespoons of juice, which is what I put into each of ice cube mold)

Salt

Sugar

Ice cube tray (silicone allows for easy removal)

Sparkling Water (optional)

Step 2: Achieving Fog-less Ice Cubes

Sometimes, when freezing tap water, you'll notice that the cubes are a near-opaque white color. This is due to the impurities in the water. In order to get completely clear, glass like ice, you need to first remove all the impurities from the water that you plan on turning into ice. Fortunately, this is a super easy process, which just involves boiling water, allowing it to cool, and then boiling it again. Now the water is ready to be frozen into clear cubes!

Step 3: Getting the Most Out of Limes

There are two methods that can maximize the amount of juice a lime or lemon has to offer.

Method 1:

Roll a lime on a cutting board or other hard surface using the palm of your hand. This will help break up the nodes of juice inside, so that once you cut it open and squeeze, the juices will flow.

Method 2:

Cut a Lime in half and place it in the microwave for 10 seconds. This will soften the skin and make it more pliable when squeezed.

Step 4: Preparing Lime Juice Mix

After squeezing out all the juice from a lime or lemon, which should give you about 3 tablespoons of juice, add in just a pinch of salt, and about 1 tablespoon of sugar. Give the mix a good stir, and now its ready to be poured into the ice tray!

To add some fancy, I cut quartered slices of limes and threw a few into each ice cube container. This way, once the ice melts, you'll be left with pretty limes quarters floating around.

Because my ice cube tray squares was 2 inch squares, I had plenty of space left after I poured in the lime juice, so to make it full I added in some re-boiled water (however, I knew that because of the juice, these ice cubes wouldn't be clear...no biggie)

Step 5: Preparing Mint Ice Cubes

This part is optional, but who doesn't love some mint flavoring in their limeade? I simply put a couple of mint leaves in each ice cube square and poured in the re-boiled water. These will freeze beautifully, as the leaves will be perfectly visible through the clear ice.

Step 6: Pop It in the Freezer

Step 7: Take Out And.....

Throw into a glass or pitcher and enjoy instant refreshing mint limeade. I used sparkling water for some added flavor. As for taste ratio, this depends on how dense a flavor you prefer. I found that one 2 inch squared ice cube was perfect for a 12 oz glass.