Homemade Orangeade Recipe- Including Refined Sugar Free Option

There are some foods and drinks that have certain seasonal associations with them. Take spinach- you probably picture a crisp spinach salad with mangoes to be a light summer dish. But you know what? Spinach is a cold weather crop... and mangoes a hot weather crop. If you eat seasonally, a spinach and mango salad won't happen, because spinach and mangoes don't grow at the same time.

Lemonade and orangeade are another similar type of beverage. We picture these drinks with a hot summer day, with a paper umbrella opened over the glass.
Only they really aren't summer drinks, if you eat seasonally, because citrus fruits are colder weather fruit... I can forage citrus in the winter locally, and get my hands on mountains of oranges, clementines, lemons, grape fruits, and all things citrus super cheaply from October/November till about April locally. So orange and lemon based dishes and drinks? Those are winter foods round these parts, no matter how much our mind associates them with hot summer days on the beach.

Orangeade. The cheapskate (and lazy girl's) alternative to orange juice.

I love freshly squeezed orange juice.
Delicious, and oh so refreshing.
But have you ever noticed just how many oranges you need to squeeze to just get one cup of orange juice? Even if you get oranges cheaply, since you're using so many oranges, the pr
ice adds up if you're having your orange juice plain.
And it's also annoying and time consuming to squeeze so many oranges.

But orangeade is stretched orange juice- stretched with water and sweetener. Kind of like lemonade is lemon juice, "stretched" (or rather, made more palatable) with water and sweetener.

I've included both refined sugar free (with honey) and as cheap as possible (white sugar) alternatives, but feel free to experiment with other sweeteners.

It is delicious and refreshing, and especially if you're making it for a crowd (or a full family) it is much more doable (financially as well as physically) than making homemade fresh orange juice.

Homemade Orangeade Recipe- Including Refined Sugar Free Option

Ingredients:
3 cups water
3/4-1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3-4 tablespoons honey or white sugar (or to taste)

Instructions:
1. Squeeze your orange juice.

2. If desired, mix your honey or sugar with a bit of boiling water to help dissolve it more easily. If not, just mix well with a bit of water until fully dissolved.

3. Add the rest of the water and orange juice, mix well, and chill.

Enjoy!

Ever have orangeade before? How do you make it? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?
What months can you get oranges and citrus cheapest? Do you associate drinks like this with the summer or winter?