This Redbud Pink Lemonade Recipe Has a Host of Antioxidants

This easy redbud pink lemonade recipe combines bright pink redbud flowers with water, citrus juice, and sugar to make a gorgeous, colorful spring drink that can be mixed with seltzer, coconut water, or any cocktail or mocktail in need of a little pizazz. 

The naturally-occurring anthocyanins in the petals turn this lemonade a gorgeous baby pink color, and infuse it with a host of antioxidants and polyphenols. The color comes from the flowers, only! 

Thus, I love using a splash of this drink to brighten up a glass of water, or you can also freeze it into pretty pink lemonade ice cubes for use in other drinks throughout the summer. The cheerful color holds up and adds a nice tangy sweetness to any drink. 

Again, the below recipe calls for using the flowers of the Eastern Redbud tree (Cercis canadensis) which blooms into beautiful magenta flowers each spring. Redbud is a popular landscaping tree across the eastern United States, the Midwest, and the MidAtlantic, so large populations of people have access to these blooms, which makes it ideal for beginner foragers. Using these flowers to make redbud pink lemonade, moreover, is a fun way to forage in an accessible way. (You can also use it to bake and make recipes like redbud muffins, etc, but that’s a story for another time…) 

Try it out and let us know what you think! 

Enjoy! 

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Here’s a detail shot of what the flowers look like on a redbud tree. Redbud has no known poisonous lookalikes, which also makes it an ideal foraging flower for beginners.  

The below redbud pink lemonade recipe can be made with lemons, limes, grapefruits, or oranges as the citrus juice element– all of them are lovely and add varying degrees of complexity to this lovely spring drink. Use what you have!

I particularly like making a tart “citrus-ade” using a combination of lime and grapefruit juice with the below recipe. For this you need about 7-9 tablespoons of juice, regardless of whatever fruit you choose to extract it from. 

 

 

Redbud Pink Lemonade Recipe

• 1/2 cup redbud flowers, de-stemmed
• 2 cups boiling water
• 4 TBSP granulated sugar
• 4 TBSP hot water to dissolve the sugar
• the juice of 3 lemons/limes (or 1 large grapefruit for a more tart expression)
• more water, optional, to taste
• squeeze of grapefruit, orange, or lime juice (optional, to make the citrus more complex) 

 

Instructions

1. Boil the water and then pour it over a large mug containing the flowers, then let it steep until cool. Refrigerate your redbud tea overnight to intensify the steep.
2. The next day, strain out the flowers– the water may be yellow-green colored and this is normal.
3. Whisk in the sugar and hot water together until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
4. Add citrus juice to redbud tea and watch the color transform to a bright pink before your very eyes! This is from the naturally-occurring anthocyanins in the petals reacting to the lower pH– it’s as close as you can get to a real-life magic trick!
5. Finally, add the sugar-water mixture to the lemon-tea mixture and stir until well-combined. Enjoy cold and sweeten further, if desired. We love cutting this lemonade with seltzer or coconut water, or splashing it in a cocktail or mocktail. 

Enjoy! Happy Spring! 

Redbud Lemonade – FAQ

 

Redbud tea initially appears green or yellow, and it changes color once you add lemon juice. This happens as a result of the naturally occuring anthocyanins in the pink petals reacting with the lower pH. 

• Why Isn’t My Redbud Tea Turning Pink? 

redbud tea made from steeping fresh redbud flowers in boiling water may or may not turn pink when you let it steep overnight. Sometimes, it doesn’t. If this is you, never fear! Simply add lemon juice to the solution and the water will change color as the naturally-occuring anthocyanins in the redbud petals react with the lower pH. It feels like a magic trick, which is why some people affectionately call redbud lemonade “color changing lemonade” (and by “some people” I mean me). 

When you add lemon to a green-yellow redbud tea, it first turns clear, like this:  

 

Then, after a few minutes, the water turns bright pink. This is what gives the pink lemonade it’s natural pink color.

It looks like this:  

 

 

Simply add sugar and lemon juice to your water, et voilà! Redbud pink lemonade. The pink petals not only imbue the drink with a beautiful pink color, but they also add a host of antioxidants. This is playful, functional nutrition at it’s finest. Straight from the yard! 🙂 

Now go out and enjoy this beautiful spring!   

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Related: Want more redbud recipes? Make these Redbud Olive Oil Muffins next.

Interested in pretty, nourishing recipes to celebrate other edible spring blooms? Make this lush Magnolia Spice Cake next. (Magnolia blooms around the same time as Eastern Redbud.)