Turning calendula tea into a nourishing, delicious, and absolutely refreshing fresh-squeezed lemonade is an incredibly easy way to give yourself some relief in the summertime swelter. It’s also a way to reap the rewards of calendula’s immune-boosting medicine. This lemonade recipe is quick and easy, so refreshing, and sweetened only with raw honey, a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals on its own.
HERE YOU’LL FIND:
Is Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade Good for You?
The Health Benefits of Calendula
Other Recipes With Calendula You’ll Love
How to Make Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade with Honey
Tips & Tricks for the Best Lemonade
Other Botanical Beverages For You to Try
Recipe for Immune-Boosting Calendula Lemonade
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Calendula is one of my go-to plant medicines for the inevitable wintertime attack on my immune system. In fact, it’s my favorite herb to include in super medicinal veggie broths and luckily, also makes for a delightful summertime refreshment to help keep you your healthiest self all year long.
Is Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Good for You?
What could be healthier than literally drinking juice freshly squeezed from a fresh fruit?!
Lemonade has so much potential to be a healthy beverage, however, it’s often overly filled with sugar. Oftentimes, the sugar used to take off the edge of the tartness isn’t even real sugar. Instead, it’s artificial sweeteners that, to be frank, where never meant to be consumed by humans in the first place.
And to hammer the nail in ever further, more often than not, fresh-squeezed isn’t even fresh-squeezed!
Leave it to us humans to take nature’s goodness and try to make it better.
In this homemade calendula lemonade, not only are we letting the vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds shine through, we’re also adding in incredible immune support.
That’s the beauty of DIY’ing; we have complete control over the ingredients that are going into our food and herbal home remedies.
The Health Benefits of Calendula
This immune-boosting calendula lemonade is chock-full of all the benefits of calendula tea with the added nutritional and medicinal benefits of lemon juice and raw honey.
In addition to its immune benefits, calendula has a long history of medicinal use. Accordingly, it has been used to treat amenorrhea (the absence of menstruation), fevers, conjunctivitis, cuts, bruises, scrapes, and an entire slew of inflammatory skin conditions.
Here’s an overview of the health benefits in this lemonade:
| Ingredient | Nutrition | Medicinal Benefits |
| Calendula | Fatty acids High in antioxidants (contains lutein, lycopene, beta-carotene, quercitin, rutin, & others) | Antiseptic Anti-tumor Anti-fungal Antioxidant Antibacterial Anti-inflammatory Promotes wound healing Stimulates menstrual flow Supports & builds immunity Stimulates bile & aids digestion Stimulates the lymphatic system Demulcent (cooling, soothing, healing, relaxing) |
| Lemon | High in vitamin C, calcium, potassium, magnesium | Antioxidant Alkalinizing (anti-inflammatory) |
| Honey, raw | High nutrient profile that includes B vitamins, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, & zinc | Anti-fungal Antioxidant Antibacterial Calming & conditioning for skin/hair |
To dive deepen into the nutritive and medicinal benefits of calendula, check out: Meet the Plants | Calendula Uses & Benefits
Other Recipes With Calendula You’ll Love
- Calendula & Honey Raw Cheesecake vegan & gluten-free
- Ultra-Nourishing Body Oil with calendula, chamomile, jasmine, and lavender
- Super Medicinal Veggie Broth with calendula for extra immune support
How to Make Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade with Calendula & Honey
Lemonade isn’t complicated. Lemon plus water and sugar equals lemonade.
However, we’re deviating just a little bit from the basic recipe to amp up the healthy factor and add in some old fashioned herbal medicine. Here’s how this lemonade is different:
- Swap out water for calendula tea. Instead of plain water, you’ll use a strong, cooled calendula tea to make up the bulk of this recipe.
- Swap out processed cane sugar for honey. This lemonade is sweetened with honey. Raw, local honey is always your best and most nutritious option.
Equipment Needed
- Citrus Juicer (Go handheld with this handheld citrus squeezer or this manual juicer. Or get fancy with an electric juicer.)
- Small Sauce Pan for steeping calendula tea
- Fine Mesh Strainer for straining calendula tea (I often use THESE strainers.)
- Quart-sized Glass Jar or Pitcher (THIS makes a perfect lemonade pitcher.)
- Measuring Cups
- Long-handled Spoon for stirring
Ingredients
- Fresh Lemons
- Calendula Flowers (fresh or dried)
- Water
- Honey (raw and local if possible)
Method
- Make calendula tea. First, you’ll make a strong calendula tea by steeping fresh or dried calendula flowers in hot water for 10-15 minutes. (Be sure to cover the tea while steeping.)
- Squeeze lemons. While the calendula tea is steeping, you’ll squeeze your fresh lemons.
- Strain calendula tea & stir in the honey. After 10-15 minutes (or longer), you’ll strain the calendula tea and stir in the honey while the tea is still warm. This will help the honey fully incorporate into the tea, as honey is very hard to dissolve in cold liquid.
- Add all ingredients to a quart-sized pitcher or glass jar & stir it all together. Then, you’ll pour in your fresh-squeezed lemon juice and honey-sweetened calendula tea. At this point, you can taste the lemonade and add more tea or water if it’s too sweet for your taste. (But keep in mind that the ice will also dilute the sweetness.)
- Pour over ice & enjoy! Lastly, fill a cup with ice and pour in your fresh-squeezed calendula lemonade. If you’d like, garnish with a slice of lemon, a fresh calendula flower picked straight from your garden, and/or a sprig of fresh mint.
✺ HERBALIST’S TIP ✺
Do you love lemonade, but don’t have access to fresh or dried calendula!? You can substitute your favorite herbal tea in this recipe. Some great options are lavender-chamomile, tulsi-rose, or spearmint. Get creative with it!
Tips & Tricks for the Best Lemonade
How to pick the best lemons for juicing?
Only fresh lemons can truly give that fresh-squeezed lemon taste. At the grocery, look for lemons that are plump and tender to the touch. The more tender, typically the juicier the lemon. Also, the heavier the lemon and the thinner the rind, the juicier it will be.
What’s the best way to squeeze fresh lemons?
There are so many ways to juice a lemon!
- Use a fork! This method is simple and requires no special equipment. First, slice the lemon in half. Then, holding one half of the lemon in one palm and a fork in the other hand, use the tines of the fork to work around inside the flesh of the lemon. Gently squeezing the lemon with the other hand while you work the fork in helps as well. With this method, I recommend juicing the lemons over a fine-mesh strainer to catch the seeds.
- Use a handheld strainer. A handheld strainer is a handy tool to have around the kitchen and makes quick work of juicing citrus.
- Use a manual strainer. Manual strainers are nice because they come with a handy little reservoirs that are oftentimes graduated. Not only do they catch the strained juice, but they make it really easy to tell how much juice you have.
- Go electric! An electric juicer is my preferred juicing method. Not only is it fast, but it always seems to yield the most juice as well.
How long does fresh-squeezed lemonade last?
Your homemade lemonade will last about a week in the fridge. Every time you pull it from the fridge to pour yourself a glass, just give the lemonade a little swirl in case anything has settled.
Can you freeze homemade lemonade?
Yes, you can! However, I’d recommend freezing your fresh-squeezed lemon juice by itself. You can pre-measure according to the recipe needs. When you’re ready to make lemonade, pull from the freezer and add straight to your warm calendula tea.
Other Botanical Beverages For You To Try
- Banana Milk with Ashwagandha & Chamomile
- Pink Paloma with Chamomile-Infused Tequila
- Ginger Mint Hot Toddy with Licorice Root
- Fennel & Earl Grey Grapefruit Spritzer
For more plant magic & herbal wellness in your life, be sure to follow along on ➡️ Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, & snag my herbal 📚 eBooks Nourishing Herbal Gifts & Holiday Pies from the (Un)Bakery. 🌿 And please don’t forget to tag me in your snaps 📸 @_botanyculture_. I love to see all the plant magic you make happen!
Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade
with Calendula & Honey
Course: DrinksDifficulty: Easy4
servings20
minutesThis calendula lemonade is a refreshing treat with added immune-boosting benefits. You can use a sweetener other than honey if you like, just remember that many sweeteners will need to be dissolved into warm water first. And store-bought lemon juice isn’t nearly as delicious, but will work in a pinch! If you really don’t care to squeeze a bunch of lemons, but want that fresh taste, use a little bit of both store-bought and fresh squeezed.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups hot water
3 tablespoons of dried calendula flowers (or ~8-10 fresh flowers or 2-3 calendula tea bags)
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 3-4 large lemons)
Ice
Sprigs of fresh mint for garnish (optional)
More water or calendula tea to create your desired sweetness (optional)
Directions
- In a small sauce pan, bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat, add the calendula flowers, cover, & let sit for 10-15 minutes.
- While the water is infusing, squeeze your lemons. If you prefer no pulp, use a fine mesh strainer to separate the juice from the pulp.
- After 10-15 minutes, use a fine mesh strainer to strain the tea from the calendula flowers. While the tea is still slightly warm, stir in the honey until completely dissolved. (I like to do this after the tea has cooled quite a bit so as to not destroy too much of the medicine in raw honey, but while it’s still warm enough to easily dissolve the honey.)
- In a quart-sized mason jar, pour in your honey-sweetened calendula tea and add the lemon juice. Either use a wooden spoon to stir or put a lid on the mason jar and shake to combine.
- At this point, you can taste the lemonade. If it’s too sweet or too tart for your taste, add more water or calendula tea until it’s to your liking.
- Fill a glass with ice, pour in calendula lemonade, and give it a little stir. Garnish with fresh mint if desired & enjoy being refreshed while boosting your immune system!
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for about a week.
Notes
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Is there anything more refreshing in the sizzling summer sun than an ice cold glass of something delicious? I’m a tremendous fan of squeezing in the botanical bliss wherever I can and I hope you also enjoy this immune-boosting calendula lemonade.
Here’s to the plants for helping to keep us happy and healthy human beings all year long!
DISCLAIMER: The information given in this article is intended for educational purposes only. Always consult with your healthcare practitioner before consuming certain herbs & medicinal foods, especially if pregnant, nursing, or taking any prescription medications.
