Lemonade, by definition, is simply a mixture of sugar, water and lemon juice. Thanks to the wonders of food manufacturing, a boatload of foreign ingredients have made their way into lemonade bottles over the years in the form of familiar suspects like high fructose corn syrup, but also some pretty sketchy ingredients you'd never expect to find in a beverage. Can you say "glycerol ester of wood resin?" (Seriously, that's in one of the lemonades we tested.)

Classic lemonade couldn't be much easier to make -- unless of course you eliminated the whole process of squeezing dozens of lemons. The only way to avoid the squeezing is to buy the store-bought kind, so we decided to conduct a blind taste test of 11 major store-bought lemonades to find which comes closest to the real thing. Some were almost unidentifiable as lemonade, while others reminded us of the homemade stuff.

Who came out on top? Check out the slideshow below.

As always, this taste test was in no way influenced or sponsored by the brands included.

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  • #1: 365 Pasteurized Lemonade (Highly Recommended)

    <b>Comments:</b> "I like this despite the fact that it has pulp, which says a lot." "Full, sour flavor." "Very pleasant." "I wish all lemonade tasted like this. Amazing." <b>Ingredients:</b> Filtered water, cane juice, concentrated lemon juice, lemon pulp, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) <b>8 oz = 110 calories, 27g sugar</b>

  • #2: Simply Lemonade (Highly Recommended)

    <b>Comments:</b> "Tastes almost like limeade, but it's still delicious." "Very nice balance and a natural flavor." "Just the right amount of sugar -- very little." "Tastes like a melted lemon ice." "Tastes homemade." <b>Ingredients:</b> Pure filtered water, natural sugar, lemon juice, natural flavors <b>8 oz = 120 calories, 28g sugar</b>

  • #3: 365 Organic (Recommended)

    <b>Comments:</b> "Just what I'd expect from a glass of lemonade." "Watery, but still good." "Inoffensive -- not too sweet." "A tad too sweet, but otherwise it's perfection." <b>Ingredients:</b> Filtered watered, organic sugar, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic lemon flavor, citric acid <b>8 oz = 100 calories, 25g sugar</b>

  • #4: Odwalla (Recommended)

    <b>Comments:</b> "Nicely balanced tart and sweetness." "Tastes like there's apple juice in here." "Slightly too sweet, but has a nice lemon flavor." "It's actually tart, like lemonade should be. I like it!" <b>Ingredients:</b> Water, lemon juice, and organic evaporated cane juice. <B>12 oz. = 180 calories, 41g sugar</b>

  • #5: Uncle Matt's

    <b>Comments:</b> "Pleasant but could use some more zip." "Tastes bizarrely like pineapple juice." "Lacks tartness." "Far too sugary." "This is good. Can I drink a whole jug, please?" <b> Ingredients:</b> Pure filtered water, organic evaporated cane juice, organ lemon juice, organic natural lemon flavor. <b>8 oz = 120 calories, 27g sugar</b>

  • #6: Newman's Own

    <b>Comments:</b> "Acceptable." "On the cloying side." "It's fine." "Sugar with maybe a tiny bit of lemon." "This has pulp, but I don't buy that it's real." <b>Ingredients:</b>Pure Filtered Water, Sugar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Lemon Pulp, Lemon Oil <b>8 oz = 110 calories, 27g sugars</b>

  • #7: Santa Cruz Organic

    <b>Comments:</b> "Tastes more like juice than lemonade." "Tastes like another fruit juice ... maybe grape?" "Is this lemon iced tea?" "Yellow fruit punch." "Tastes like watered down lemonade." <b>Ingredients:</b> Filtered water, organic evaporated cane juice, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic lemon juice, organic natural lemon flavor. <b>8 oz = 100 calories, 25g sugars</b>

  • #8: Tropicana

    <b>Comments:</b> "Way to sweet, and not much complexity." "Doesn't really taste much like lemonade, but more like some sort of sweetened beverage." "Definitely just sugar and water." "Is this sugar water?" <b>Ingredients:</b> Filtered water,high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, lemon juice concentrate, ascorbic acid, natural flavors. <b>8 oz = 120 calories, 28g sugars</b>

  • #9: Turkey Hill

    <b>Comments:</b> "Where's the lemon? This just tastes like sugar syrup." "Definite orange juice flavor." "Sugar water." "Only sugar. There's no lemon at all in here." "Not what I'm looking for in lemonade." <b>Ingredients:</b> Water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, tea, concentrated lemon juice, citric acid, lemon pulp, sodium citrate, natural flavors, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (to preserve freshness). <b>8 oz = 120 calories, 26g sugars</b>

  • #10: Country Time

    <b>Comments:</b> "Fluorescent and completely sugary." "Weak and artificial." "Lots of sugar, but refreshing." "Horrible color. Tastes like Kool-Aid." "Tastes just like what I'd expect fake lemonade to taste like." <b>Ingredients:</b> Water, high fructose corn syrup, contains less than 2%: natural flavor, ascorbic acid, citric acid, sodium citrate, glycerol ester of wood rosin, yellow 5, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA <b>20 oz = 230 calories, 58g sugars</b>

  • #11: Minute Maid

    <b>Comments:</b> "Is this soda? It's overpoweringly sweet." "Very bad. Is this Gatorade?" "Fake flavor and awful aftertaste." "100 percent artificial." <b>Ingredients:</b> Pure filtered water, sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup, sugar), lemon juice from concentrate, lemon pulp, natural flavors. <b>8 oz = 110 calories, 28g sugars</b>