Cafe Liz

July 4, 201020 Comments

Ice limonana — mint lemonade, the drink of the Israeli summer

Liz Steinberg

Limonana is the quintessential drink of the Israeli summer. Simple and ubiquitous, there’s nothing more refreshing than freshly squeezed lemons and ground sprigs of mint, whether served on ice or blended into a smoothie.

In the summer, limonada becomes my social drink of choice — the drink that captures the spirit of the moment, a pleasant afternoon nestled into a chair in a lively streetside cafe. In the winter, I order a cappuccino; in the spring and early summer, I make that iced coffee; and once even milk is too heavy for the oppressive summer heat, I get limonana. Big, green and frothy, and very cold, please.

The name limonana is simply a combination of the word for lemonade, limonada, and the word for spearmint, nana, one of the country’s favorite herbs. It can be prepared as a drink, or as a smoothie, in which case all the ingredients are blended together.

The recipe contains a lot of fresh lemon juice, as well as a lot of mint, which gives it a strong flavor and a bright color.

You’ll want to adjust the sugar to your tastes: 4 tablespoons (i.e. 1/4 cup) will give you a mildly sweet drink, and 6 tablespoons will give you a drink that’s sweet but not cloying, something like the sweetness you’ll get in restaurants. 2 tablespoons comes out barely sweet. I prefer 4 tablespoons, but if you like things really sweet, you might even want to add more than 6 tablespoons.

For 4 cups (one liter) of ice limonana:

2 heaping cups of ice
1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 4 large lemons)
1/2 cup spearmint leaves (from about 40 stalks), plus a few more to garnish
4-6 tablespoons sugar (or to taste; see note above)

Juice the lemons, and remove the mint leaves from the stalks. Dump all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.

Serve garnished with mint.

Note: While you can find a limonana pretty much anywhere, I had a great limonana smoothie — limonana garus — at Etnachta, on Dizengoff 190. There, most everyone is sipping bright green limonanas in the summer.

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More on: drink, Israeli, lemon, mint, Parve, Vegan

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20 Comments »

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1. Ice limonana rocks!
   The colours are gorgeous. Thank you for this insight. I like that limonana has only natural ingredients not like the artificial softdrinks you can buy.

   cya

   Comment by bobbinis-kitchen.com — July 5, 2010 #

2. I have some lemons to use up and I know where some mint has escaped and gone native – will pick some this afternoon and report back later!
   Nick

   Comment by Nick Greenhough — July 6, 2010 #

3. This sounds so refreshing and delicious. Given how much my husband loves mojitos, I think he’d love this non-alcoholic quencher too. I will have to remember this one!

   Comment by Cara — July 8, 2010 #

4. [...] of Israel’s favorite flavor combination is mint-lemonade. Try this refreshing recipe from Cafe Liz Shuk Hatikva, Tel Aviv Shuk Hatikva, Tel [...]

   Pingback by Fresh Fruit Juice Stalls in Israel — July 8, 2010 #

5. I love that drink,it is so refreshing” I just returned from Finland,where I made an another refreshing summer drink,made of blackcurrant leaves.Too bad we don’t have blackcurrants growing here…

   Comment by Yael — July 10, 2010 #

6. Hey, A-Man, thanks, me too! The only lemonade I like is made from actual lemons.

   Comment by Liz — July 10, 2010 #

7. Hey Nick, sounds good! Unfortunately my mint plant is nowhere large enough to harvest for a drink like this, I had to buy a bunch.

   Comment by Liz — July 10, 2010 #

8. Hey Cara, funny, this somewhat reminds me of a mojito, too. Although it doesn’t entirely taste like one, of course.

   Comment by Liz — July 10, 2010 #

9. Hey Yael, wow, I’d love to try a drink made from fresh blackcurrant leaves! Too bad indeed that we don’t have them here.

   Comment by Liz — July 10, 2010 #

10. sounds delicious! and even better- non alcoholic! Great for a summer day here in NYC!

    Comment by marlene — July 11, 2010 #

11. Greetings from NEW YORK! Love your blog!

    Comment by thejewishhostess — July 11, 2010 #

12. Great idea, Liz. Just made some myself, and enjoying it less sweetened and more tart! It’s a good way to stay cool when you have no AC in your place

    Comment by Julia — July 11, 2010 #

13. Hi Marlene, thanks for visiting! It’s good for summers everywhere, I hope. I’m also not such a big drinker.

    Comment by Liz — July 11, 2010 #

14. Julia, why don’t you guys have air conditioning?!?

    Comment by Liz — July 11, 2010 #

15. Just the thing I need right now. Reminds of the street side stalls in India squeezing out fresh lime/lemon and making the best drink ever.

    Comment by Soma — July 15, 2010 #

16. [...] has a surplus of lemon and mint for the ubiquitous mint tea, yet we didn’t see a single limonana. Sultry Morocco and cool limonana seem like they should be a match made in heaven, but it seems no [...]

    Pingback by Cafe Liz » Dining and dishing in Barcelona » the kosher vegetarian Israeli food blog — May 23, 2011 #

17. [...] afternoon I’ve been sipping limonana, one of the greatest summer drinks ever, and it got me thinking. Or, more accurately, [...]

    Pingback by Yellow and Green Outdoor Living Space | Mojan Sami — July 18, 2011 #

18. My church does an annual visit to Jeruselem with the youth, about 20 teens each year, and the group that went last year had this drink and LOVED it, so they made some for a fundraiser for my group’s Journey to Jeruselem this year and it was a big hit! I looked it up to try to make it, and i think it turned out well! I cannot wait to try a real one for myself when I visit Israel this year! Thanks!

    Comment by Maria! — July 25, 2011 #

19. Cool! I’m sure your limonana came out great — and it’s just as “real” as any we make here!

    Comment by Liz — July 26, 2011 #

20. [...] Make your own with Liz Steinberg [...]

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