Lavender Lemonade

Lemonade's such a little kid thing. It brings me back to my Grandma's rickety card table at the end of the driveway, hawking glasses of watered down frozen concentrate lemonade for 50 cents a cup - the Tupperware ones that we sort of wiped down between customers. Sounds gross, but we only ever had two customers and they were related, so it's all good.

But THIS lemonade.  This lemonade is a cut above.  

What is it about Lavender that bumps up your cooking to the next level? 

Lemonade. yay. Lavender lemonade. Whoooo!

Add in a few lemonade wands as stir sticks, and you've got a drink to impress.

Here's how it goes:

Lavender Lemonade

Syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
3 tablespoons dried lavender 

Lemonade
2 cups lemon juice
4 cups of water
1 cup lavender syrup
lavender sprigs and/or lemon slices to garnish

Need the herbs? Visit my Etsy shop.

Method

1. First, you'll make the lavender syrup. If you want to double or triple that amount, you go for it.  You'll use it for the lavender lemonade, but you can also use it as a tea sweetener, on ice cream, in desserts, anywhere a syrup would normally go.
2. In a small saucepan stir together the sugar, water, and lavender. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.  Keep at a simmer for 30 minutes or so, until reduced by about half.  
3. Take from the heat and refrigerate.  I like to let it steep overnight to make the infusion strong, but it's all about preference.  
4. Once you have the strength you desire, strain the syrup.
5. Next comes the lemonade. In a large jug, add the lemon juice and water. Add one cup of the strained lavender syrup.  
6. Taste it. If it says, "Yes! This is awesome!" leave it be. If your mouth puckers, add more syrup. Too sweet? A little more lemon.  It's all to taste.
7. Serve over ice (maybe mint ice cubes?!). Garnish with lemon slices or lavender sprigs.

If you want to try something really special, try adding other herbs to the syrup. Herbs that come to mind are mint (classic) and rosemary (going to be a classic, IMO).

​Enjoy!