Homemade Sour Mix

I am obsessed with this sour mix. It does take a little time to put together, but the cocktails take a fraction of the time to make. This is great when you are having a party and don’t want to spend all of your time making cocktails. It is versatile enough you can use yours or your friend’s favorite spirit. -Elizabeth

Ingredients

• 1 grapefruit
• 4 limes
• 6 lemons
• 1 orange (optional)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup water

Instructions

1. Give all the citrus a good scrub under cold water.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, remove wide strips of the zest from the grapefruit, all the limes, and three (3) of the lemons.
3. Into a medium saucepan, toss all the zest and add the sugar and water.
4. Bring the zest mixture to a simmer over medium heat and let it bubble, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is totally dissolved (which should only be 3-4 minutes).
5. Let the zest mixture cool.
6. Juice the zested and un-zested citrus to get ½ cup grapefuit juice, ½ cup lime juice and 1 cup lemon juice. You may not need all the citrus depending on the juiciness of the citrus so juice the zested ones first.
7. Strain the juice through a fine mesh sieve into a quart sized jar or bottle.
8. Into the same jar or bottle strain the zest-infused simple syrup, close tightly and shake to combine. This will last for three (3) days in the fridge.

Note

• To make the sour mix a little sweeter, use the zest from the orange in steps 2 and 3. Use ¼-½ cup orange juice in step 6. This also mellows the tang from the grapefruit.

Adapted from www.bonappetit.com/story/homemade-sour-mix