One of the first jobs after boarding Britannia was to make lemon refresher. Every member of the royal family would reach for a refreshing glass of this English “homemade lemonade” while sitting on deck. This calls for a few special ingredients you might not have in the cupboard. The Epsom salts you can find at Whole Foods, and the citric acid and tartaric acid are common ingredients in beer making. You can find them at beer-making supply stores or through online sources.
4½ cups sugar
2 tablespoons Epsom salts
3 teaspoons citric acid
3 teaspoons tartaric acid
6 lemons, juice and zest
5 cups water
Place the sugar, Epsom salts, citric acid, tartaric acid, lemon juice, and zest in a bowl and whisk them together. Bring the 5 cups water to a boil and pour it over the lemon mix, whisking until combined. Refrigerate until cold and decant into screw-top bottles. To serve, dilute ¼ cup of the lemon refresher with 2 cups of water over ice or to taste.
MAKES 2 QUARTS CONCENTRATE