Recipe Clone Limonata Sparkling Lemonade

O.K. this is not a photography post but a recipe. I just had to share. I tried to take a decent photo though. 

I love the Italian limonata soda you can see in the background, but I hate the cost and the amount of sugar in it. I never drink soda with sugar and have cut out diet sodas for their questionable contents. That aside, I wanted to figure out how to find a sugar fee alternative that has such a strong lemony taste. I've tried several sodas that still use sugar, but less and they were all to sweet. I didn't realize you could make a simple syrup with stevia, but you can! This is so incredibly close and you just add a few tablespoons to seltzer water and BINGO! It's pretty good. 

Here's the recipe:

2 cups Stevia 

1/2 cup water

2 cups lemon juice

Directions:

Add 1/2 cup water to a small saucepan and ad 2 cups stevia. The add one tablespoon of the lemon juice. Boil for 5 minutes. You'll need to pick the pan off the burner and stir until the stevia incorporates while cooking. It will form a  skin ( I'm guessing that's from the maltodextrin used to bulk up the stevia because its sweeter than sugar). After taking the saucepan off the burner and let it cool, add the rest of the lemon juice. 

Put in a jar and refrigerate. I added about 5 tablespoons to a glass and added 8 ounces of seltzer. It is so close to the original; I was very impressed with the results. One jar should last about 3 liters of seltzer.