Lemonade Alley workshops this year went off without a hitch thanks to amazing performers including Executive Chefs Eric Leterc of Pacific Club & Matt Small of ChefZone! As always, the tips were sweet and juicy! A few top tips:
- Use Zest! It’s that yellow stuff on the very outside of the lemon that has a lot of lemon oils in it so you can get “lemoniness” without all the acid of the pulp inside the lemon. Acid means you need more sugar, so be healthy and figure out ways to use less sugar/acid.
- Serve Small Cups: 25 lemonades is lot for visitors to taste so just give them a little. They’ll still pay you a hunk of money and you can save costs. Besides, smaller is cuter! If you want to serve big, that’s OK too. It’s all your choice.
- Be Clean: Wear gloves. Wash hands frequently. Wash all your lemons and making supplies before you come to the event. Keep perishables in coolers. Food safety is a top concern ~ we don’t want people getting sick, right?
- Cut with Your Fingers IN & UNDER: If you use a knife, always curl your fingers under when holding stuff that’s being cute. This reduces the chances that you’ll slip and cut your own parts. If you don’t know, please be sure to ask any chef-kine folks roaming about on show day.
- Have Fun! This is your day to invent, express and help a charity.
Look for Chefs Eric and Matt at the main event ~ they’ll be among the judges tasting your recipes at Taste Test!
And for those of you who made this year’s recipe workshop, remember DO NOT do what Mr. Trevor showed you (the crazy guy made lemonade using mustard and salt, then stirred with a toilet brush!!! ~ at least that brush was pretty new…). FYI, Trevor is an actor and comedian… yes, he was very funny. And silly. And whacky.