Lemonade with mint is an old idea in the Middle East and the Mediterranean; a recipe of sugar, lemon juice, mint and water was written down by the Andalusian scholar Ibn al Baytar in the thirteenth century, and versions are poured from Morocco to Lebanon. In Israel the blended, frozen version goes by limonana, a name joining the words for lemon, limon, and mint, nana, which are close in Hebrew and Arabic alike. The name itself was coined in the 1990s for an advertising campaign that sold space on buses by showing celebrities enjoying a drink that did not yet exist. Customers asked for it anyway, and cafés obliged.

Today it is the drink of an Israeli summer, sold at beach kiosks, juice bars and market stalls, sometimes jokingly called the national drink. It is quick, cheap and kind to a crowd: a minute in the blender gives a jug of something cold, sour, sweet and grassy green, which on a hot race afternoon is close to air conditioning in a glass.

Mint syrup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• 1/2 cup (about 10 g) fresh mint leaves

The limonana

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (180 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold water
• 1 cup (about 20 g) fresh mint leaves
• 4 cups ice cubes
• 4 thin lemon slices

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