Jalapeño lemonade at Iowa State Fair offers spicy twist on a classic

Sour and tangy meets spicy at Brafford's, home of the new jalapeño lemonade shake-up at the Iowa State Fair.

The jalapeño lemonade made its fiery debut this year, joining the ranks of Brafford's Lemonade classics: the original lemonade and strawberry. The jalapeño lemonade offers the same crisp, refreshing lemonade flavor, but with a punchy twist. And don't worry about the jalapeño notes not hitting as you take your first sip. It takes a second or two to kick in.

The new flavor joins more than 40 new Iowa State Fair drinks this year, including new lemonade flavors like cotton candy and apple. It's also in the running for the fair's New Drink contest.

The Brafford family's stands, also called Dad's Old Fashioned Lemonade, have had a presence at the Iowa State Fair since 1948, says Edward Brafford, who co-owns Brafford's Lemonade with his brother. Brafford's great-grandmother, Nettie "Ma" Mulstay, and great-aunt sold coffee, sandwiches and the family's specialty lemonade — made entirely with real lemons.

"We're still making the exact lemonade," Brafford, of Des Moines, said.

Brafford, who's been coming to the State Fair for as long as he can remember, says he remembers being assigned an important job at the family business early on.

"Like, I could stand on the crate, and I would fill glasses, you know, up over my head," he said. "I was never big enough to squish at that time, but I remember filling glasses up."

Brafford and his brother officially took over the business around 2023.

All the Brafford's lemonade shake-ups have similar base ingredients, including freshly squeezed lemons, sugar, and orange to take away some bitterness.

So what turns it into the jalapeño shake-up? Sliced jalapeño and a splash of jalapeño concentrate. The lemonade is shaken with ice before it's served.

Brafford uses 32-ounce plastic soup containers to serve the lemonade. Selling the standard 16- and 24-ounce cups just didn't cut it for customers, Brafford said.

"And we're able to make them all in the cup and shake them in the cup instead of having shakers," he said. "It's way more efficient."

Brafford says he's not sure where the idea for the jalapeño version came from.

"We thought it sounded a little strange, but we thought we'd give it a shot," Brafford said of the jalapeño experiment. "And when we did, we were actually quite surprised by it because it still tastes like lemonade, and then there's like a little bite, and then a little bit of heat at the end."

Brafford says the lemonade is just as refreshing as the others, but with a slight kick. A lot of people compare it to a spicy margarita, he said.

"If somebody likes it really hot, we can kind of pump it up if that's what they want," he said.

Many people have started asking for the jalapeño ingredients to be added to the strawberry lemonade.

The jalapeño lemonade is sold for $9 at both Brafford Lemonade stands on Rock Island Avenue.

Stands can be found on the east side of the Anne & Bill Riley Stage and on the southwest side of the triangle, east of the Administration Building.

Brafford says he wants fairgoers to know his family has kept a generational tradition alive.

"We're still doing the fresh-squeezed lemonade just how you know, my family has always done it. You know, a lot of the lemonade out here says fresh-squeezed or fresh lemonade — and they might squeeze some lemon in it — but there's not a whole lot of the original lemonade left out here."

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines and Polk County government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Jalapeño lemonade at Iowa State Fair offers spicy twist on a classic