Recipe: Lemon, ginger and turmeric ice blocks

When you’re hot and thirsty after a long day of doing not a hell of a lot because it’s the holidays, you’ll praise last week’s you for having the foresight to make these bad boys.

These ice blocks are the perfect balance between sweet and tart. The classic combination of lemon and ginger is made a little bit fancy with the addition of turmeric, which makes these ice blocks glow a beautiful golden colour and adds a subtle earthy flavour. Our lemons are particularly sweet and juicy, so I suggest you taste the mixture as it simmers in the saucepan, adding more sugar if they aren’t quite sweet enough. Deliciously thirst-quenching at the end of a long, hot day!

LEMON, GINGER & TURMERIC ICE BLOCKS

Makes 10

• juice of 5 large lemons (or 1 cup juice)
• 2 cups water
• 100g golden caster sugar, or white sugar
• 6-7 slices fresh ginger
• 4-5 slices fresh turmeric (which you can find at good supermarkets and green grocers. Leave it out if you can’t find it, but it makes them a lovely golden colour)

Put the lemon juice, water, sugar, ginger and turmeric into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a jug and leave to cool.  

Pour the cooled liquid into ice block moulds then freeze for about an hour or until you can insert the sticks without them falling over. Once the sticks are in, freeze overnight.