# What's the deal with pink lemonade? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699 "2001-06-13T18:28:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![felix\_penfold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@felix\_penfold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/felix_penfold)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/1 "2001-06-13T18:28:25Z")
How, where and why did **pink** lemonade originate? Please don’t say because it is fun. Making lemonade “sinus-infection-green” or “baby-diaper-brown” is fun too…but Country Time and Kool-Aid seem to be sticking with the yellow and pink versions of their lemonade. ---
**Author:** ![False\_God](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee7513/32.png) [@False\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/False_God)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/2 "2001-06-13T19:08:11Z")
Well, based on what I was able to find with Google: Variations on lemonade (or lemon squash for the Brits) popular in the Middle East included Red Sumac stems. The stems bled some of their sap into the drink, and along with flavor, added color. Other sources claim that pink lemonade is best made not with red sumac, but with the addition of grenadine or maraschino cherry syrup. I seem to remember reading a story that credited Baltimore as the home of pink lemonade. Can’t vouch for that, but I can say that adding maraschino juice (NOT the liqueur) makes a very good drink. Oh, and if you want blue lemonade, just add blue curacou. Vodka optional. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/3 "2001-06-13T19:09:25Z")
I believe pink lemonade is supposed to be made with maraschino cherries, hence the pink color. The maraschino cherries get their bright red color from food coloring, but they also provide a different flavor from regular lemonade. Nowadays, pink lemonade is often made with just the food coloring, and you miss the extra flavor from the cherries. ---
**Author:** ![robinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@robinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/4 "2001-06-13T20:29:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*Nowadays, pink lemonade is often made with just the food coloring, and you miss the extra flavor from the cherries. \*\* _Mountain Sun_ makes a cherry lemonade. I think they have a strawberry, too, as well as the regular stuff. As a bonus, they’re organic and sweetened with honey and agave, so they’re fairly healthy. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/5 "2001-06-14T02:17:43Z")
An anecdotal origin is that a carnival worker was selling lemonade on a hot day and realized he was running out. Not wanting to close down, he grabbed a nearby pail of water to make a new batch. Only after he had added the lemons and sugar did he realize the water had been stained pink by a pair of leotards that had been soaking in the water. So, using what must have been amazing salesmanship, he told the carnival goers that pink lemonade was the latest thing and sold off the entire batch in record time. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/6 "2001-06-14T05:09:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by False\_God \* > \*\*Oh, and if you want blue lemonade, just add blue curacou. Vodka optional. \*\* This will make it alcoholic, as **Blue Curacao** is usually about 24% alcohol. You need to add quite a bit to amke the lemonade blue, as usually blue and yellow make…green. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/7 "2001-06-14T05:11:36Z")
D’oh, struck by Gaudere’s law…goofed on the bolding AND misspelled the word “make”! That’ll teach me to try to correct someone else’s spelling. [sub]/hiding in the corner/[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/8 "2001-06-14T05:29:19Z")
I don’t know if they have **Hot Dog on a Stick** kiosques where you come from, but they make all their own lemonade themselves and it’s the **big fat bomb** (the lemonade). You can also order a cherry lemonade; they put the cup under the cherry-flavored syrup spigot and pump three long hard red squirts. The lemonade is then a reddish pink color. That’s how they make pink lemonade here in Seattle, but when I make it at home I use the frozen concentrate type(Country time) and I just plop it in the pitcher, add water, then mix it with my hand, like the little girl in Vacation. The Bomb The Bomb The Big Fat Bomb ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/9 "2001-06-14T08:22:01Z")
[slight hijack] Has anyone seen the frozen concentrate in the 6 oz. size lately? It simplifies the process for making my super-deluxe-mega-ueber strawberry daquiris. [/slight hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-pink-lemonade/68699/10 "2001-06-14T09:47:13Z")
When I worked in a snow cone stand, we made the syrup for the pink lemonade flavor by adding just a tiny bit of the strawberry syrup to the regular lemonade mix.