There is nothing I love more than plump local strawberries, bursting with sweet juices, and ruby red all the way through. I go a little crazy with them every year. My favourite thing that emerged from last June’s berry bounty was this Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream. Incredible. This year I found myself with a bit less time on my hands, so I froze the entire 8-lb stash I bought on a whim. But I’ve still been buying more, a more reasonable pint at a time, each time I visit the farmers market. Mostly, they’ve just been for snacking. But nothing quite says summer like a glass of ice cold, sweet-tart, irresistibly pink strawberry lemonade. The typical lemonade proportions vary between equal parts sugar and lemon juice (soda sweet) to 1 part sugar to 1 1/2 parts lemon juice (on the tarter side). My recipe is 1 part sugar to 2 parts lemon juice (ever tarter), but I find the intense sweetness of in-season strawberries takes the edge off. I made the recipe as a single serving, like a cocktail, because I usually just want one glass – and maybe a second to share with a friend. And who wants to juice a bazillion lemons? But I scaled it up so that you can make a pitcher if you’re so inclined. I actually drink it with even less sugar, because I really like to pucker. But Adarsh made an I-just-sucked-a-lemon face when he tasted it. So go with the recipe as written, unless you’re like me – in which case you can try it with 1 tbsp per glass. If you do make a whole pitcher, you can adjust the tartness – if you find it’s not sweet enough for you, you can add sweetness by making a simple syrup: bring a cup of water to a boil with a cup of sugar, stirring until dissolved, then cool and add to your lemonade to taste. Reserve any leftover syrup to sweeten iced tea/coffee/summer cocktails. Too sweet? Juice another lemon. Too sober? Add vodka.

This tart-sweet lemonade is one of my favorite summer drinks to keep pitchers of all season long.