Lavender Lemonade & Sugar Recipes

The easiest way to see if you'd like to eat or drink something with lavender is to chomp on a bud. It's a unique experience. These recipes don't tell you what variety of lavender to choose. Just don't pick the ones like Spike lavender that have that strong pine smell. English Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) is the variety preferred in cooking.

I love lavender so much that I'll try it in anything. I once had lavender ice cream & didn't care for it, but would try it again in another brand or try making my own. I've had lavender cookies & bread & they were so very good. They had lavender sugar on the top, which I love.

In all these recipes, you can substitute Splenda for the sugar. When I do that, I reduce the Splenda by a scant tablespoon per cup. I make my scratch cherry pie with Splenda, strawberry shortcake, etc. But I find if I use Splenda for sugar cup for cup it ends up tasting artificial. By experimentation, I came up with the reduction mentioned above. It doesn't reduce the sweetness, just that "funny taste."

Recipe #1

3 c. sugar
7 sprigs lavender (stems & buds), plus additional for garnish
2 c. fresh lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
1/2 c. fresh lime juice (from about 5 limes)

Bring 1 gallon water & sugar to boil in large saucepan. Remove from heat, add 7 lavender sprigs, lemon & lime juices.Cool to room temperature, strain, chill. Serve over ice, garnish with additional lavender sprigs or buds. You can also use lemon verbena in place of lavender.

Recipe #2

1 c. sugar
1/4 c. fresh or 1 Tbsp. dried lavender blooms
1 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Lavender sprigs for garnish

In medium pan over medium heat, bring sugar & water to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add lavender blooms, cover, remove from heat. let stand 20 minutes to several hours. Strain & discard lavender. Pour into glass pitcher & add lemon juice & another 2 1/2 c. water. Stir well. Serve over ice.

Recipe #3

1 c. honey
1 Tbsp. dried lavender
1 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice

Combine honey with 2 1/2 c. water in medium saucepan & bring to boil, stirring to dissolve honey. When it reaches a boil, stir in lavender & remove from heat. Steep for 20 minutes. Strain lavender out & discard. Stir in lemon juice, add 2 c. water, chill. Serve over ice.

Lavender Sugar (or Splenda) - delicately flavored

2 Tbsp. dried lavender
1 c. sugar

Combine in tightly covered container, shake well. Shake every day for 2-3 days. You can sift out the lavender before using, if desired.

You can also do a 1/1 ratio of dried lavender buds to sugar. You want to use dried buds so you don't add moisture to your sugar.