Take summers up a notch with a refreshing glass of lavender lemonade. Made with fresh lemon juice and a natural sweetened simple syrup infused with lavender buds. A fresh twist to an average glass of lemonade!
Why lavender infused lemonade is so great
Lavender lemonade is easy to make, contains natural sugars, and calms an anxious body! This beverage is a tasty treat sweetened with honey or monk fruit which metabolizes better in the body than white sugars. The oils in lavender have many health benefits that help to decrease anxiety and provides a Zen effect [source]. The boost of lavender flavor is so subtle without overpowering the drink, it makes you feel calm all over!
The benefits of lavender are that it:
- Provides better sleep
- Calms the body
- Reduces anxiety and depression
- Promotes hair growth
- Helps with migraines
- Provides pain relief
There are many different types of lavender so here is a breakdown of a few of them and what type of lavender bud is best to use in culinary practices.
Lavender varieties
English lavender: This is the most common lavender and is recognized by its fragrant greyish-green leaves and purple flowers. It grows from a low hedge and is familiar and used as a culinary lavender.
‘Provence’ lavender: Provence lavender has a powerful fragrance and long stems. It is mostly used for making lavender wands and wreaths.
French lavender: This type of lavender is used in potpourri, lavender wands, and sachet’s. It has a powerful fragrance that is generally too strong for cooking.
What is the best lavender to use in lemonade
After speaking with a local lavender farm and talking with the grower, he recommends to use culinary lavender or English lavender for this application.
Other lavender varieties will make the lemonade too strong. If you do end up using another type of the flower herb, only use a small amount of the buds from the lavender plant. Trust me on this, you don't want it to to be too strong- I tried it! The stronger stems on French lavender (more potent kind) can be used to make simple syrups by placing them in boiling water with sugar and used for cocktails. You can then water it down as needed for the best flavor depending on what you mix with it.
What ingredients go into this lemonade recipe
- Culinary lavender buds – I use 1 tablespoon of culinary lavender for this lemonade recipe so the lavender is trivial and not too overpowering.
- Water – is used for making a simple syrup that is infused with the lavender buds and sweetener, and for making the lemonade.
- Meyer lemons citrus fruit – if you can not find Meyer lemons you can use regular lemons but I do not recommend lemon juice in a bottle. Fresh squeezed lemon juice provides the best taste.
- Honey or Monk fruit – this is used as the sweetener in place of white sugar.
How to make this recipe
In a saucepan add 2 cups of water, lavender buds and either honey or monk fruit sugar. Bring the water to a boil then turn the heat to low. Mix to dissolve the sugar, cover and let it set 10-20 minutes so the lavender flavors the water. Put the remaining 4 cups of water and fresh lemon juice in a pitcher. Using a strainer, pour the sugared lavender water into into the pitcher making sure the lavender buds do not go in. Chill the lemon juice in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more before serving. Add ice to the pitcher right before serving.
recipes
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Meyer Lemon Lavender Lemonade
Ingredients
- 6 cups water filtered, divided
- 1 cup monk fruit sugar or honey (monk fruit is keto and sugar-free)
- 1 tablespoon culinary lavender buds dried
- 1 cup lemon juice fresh squeezed from Meyer lemons
- ice
Instructions
- In a saucepan add 2 cups of water, lavender buds and either honey or monk fruit sugar. Bring the water to a boil then turn the heat to low. Mix to dissolve the sugar, cover and let it set 10-15 minutes so the lavender flavors the water.
- Put the remaining 4 cups of water and fresh lemon juice in a pitcher. Using a strainer, pour the sugared lavender water into into the pitcher making sure the lavender buds do not go in.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more before serving. Add ice to the pitcher right before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
A few years ago my girlfriends and I took a trip to the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa for Mother’s Day (hi girls, we need to do it again!). We stayed for the weekend starting off with a picnic in the grass and the rest of the time poolside. While there, we were first introduced to the best lavender lemonade.
That lavender lemonade has been brought up in conversation every time we reminisce about our girls trip– the lavender lemonade had that much of an amazing impression!
As soon as I got home from that trip I headed to a local lavender farm to get lavender buds and now make this homemade batch from there out.
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