How to make Lavender Lemonade cocktails in three easy steps...
Spring has finally sprung here in the UK, and it's time to take some inspiration from nature for our cocktails. With Easter soon upon us, and wedding season gearing up, there's nothing like a fragrant floral cocktail to serve to guests in the garden.
Lemonade and lavender is a classic combination. The floral tones of lavender work beautifully with a sweet sharpness of citrus, but the lemon colour mixed with the pale violet flowers has a visually striking effect too.
Here is an easy three-step process to DIYing your own lemonade lavender cocktails.
Step one: make a Lavender Syrup
The simplest way to add lavender to your cocktails is to make lavender syrup. You'll need to get hold of some culinary lavender flowers from a lavender plant that has been bred specifically to be more aromatic and less bitter when you cook with it. If you'd like to grow your own, try planting the Munstead, Lady or Hidcote varietals.
-------
First of all...
Add 400 g of white castor sugar and 400 ml of water to a clean saucepan.
Stir the mix to encourage the sugar to dissolve.
Then add 2-4 tablespoons of culinary grade lavender flowers. How much you add depends on your taste. Lavender is a strong flavour. Too much, and it errs towards soapy. Too little, and it may not stand up against the strength of the lemon flavours.
To begin with, if you're uncertain, add two tablespoons, as you can always add more later.
Then...
Once your flowers are in the pan, turn on the heat. You want the mixture to simmer but never boil. So you'll need to stand over it, stirring occasionally. If the mixture boils, you'll lose water, the flowers may break down, and the sugar could begin to caramelise, all of which will change the flavour profile of your syrup, and not in a good way.
Once you've simmered the mixture for about twenty minutes, turn the heat off and let the blend sit while it cools. Let the lavender continue to infuse into the syrup for a few hours before you strain it.
Finally...
Use a cheesecloth or jam straining bag to filter any small but spiky stems and the softened flowers from the mix. Add the mixture to a sterilised bottle or jar. If you want to add a dash of purple food colouring to heighten the visual contrast between the yellow and violet, this is the time to do it. The syrup should last in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
If you want to skip this step, there are commercial syrups available. Monin produces a deep purple coloured one, and William Fox makes a more natural toned one.
Step Two: Make a Lemonade
The simple joy of fresh lemons is best encapsulated in a simple lemonade recipe. We have added some oils from the skin to add a creamy texture and a light lemon oil flavour to the freshness of the fruit flesh itself.
First of All...
Start by sourcing eight unwaxed, decent sized fresh lemons. Peel two, and squeeze the juice from all of them. Add the juice to a litre of water.
Now turn your attention to the peel. With a very sharp knife, remove all of the white pith from the inside of the skins. This is really important as that pith has a very bitter flavour that won't add anything good to your lemonade.
In a magic bullet style blender or fine-bladed food processor, blitz the lemon peel until it becomes a smooth paste.
Then add the lemon peel pulp to the rest of your lemonade mixture.
NB: As we are adding lavender syrup to our cocktails, and we have used twice the amount of lemon fruit as usual in this lemonade recipe, there's no need to add any sugar unless you have a super sweet tooth.
You can, of course, buy a lemonade that suits your taste. Stick to the cloudy style, and where possible, check that the brand uses natural ingredients rather than added commercial flavouring agents. Summerhouse Drinks make a reputable lavender lemonade cocktail but remember you won't have any control over the intensity or balance between the lavender and lemonade flavours and colours.
Step Three: Choose your Cocktail Recipe
There are two obvious choices of spirit to mix with lavender lemonade.
The first is vodka. This tasteless white spirit will pack a punch without getting in the way of either the colour or flavour profile of your mixers.
The second is gin. With its orris root, citrus and juniper botanical profile, gin will bring out the best of your lemon and lavender mix. But there is a final option; white rum. White rum has a punchy, grassy flavour, perfect for spring drinking and complementary to your cocktail ingredients.
- Hard Lavender Lemonade
→ Pour 50 ml of good quality vodka into a tall glass full of ice.
→ Pour in 20 ml of lavender syrup and stir.
→ Then fill your glass to about two centimetres from the top with lemonade.
If you pour this carefully, the lemonade will sit on top of the purple syrup, creating a colour divide in the glass.
Serve the drinks with a stirrer so the guest can mix the ingredients themselves before they take a sip.
- Gin Spritz
→ Pour 25 ml of good quality London Dry Gin into a balloon glass (or a large wine glass), then add 15 ml each of Lillet Blanc and lavender syrup.
→ Fill the glass with ice and stir, then top up with 125 ml of lemonade and stir again.
→ Garnish the drink with a sprinkle of lavender flowers and a lemon wheel... or a Lavender Flavour Bubble if you're feeling fancy.
- Lavender Daiquiri
→ Add 50 ml of good quality aged white rum and 15 ml of lavender syrup into a cocktail shaker, then mix one teaspoon of honey with 25ml of your lemonade and add that.
→ Add ice to the shaker and give it a good hard shake.
→ Double strain into a martini glass and float two lavender sprigs in a cross on the drink's surface, with the flowers balancing over the rim of the glass.
Flavour Blaster produces both lavender and citrus aromatics to match these drinks. If you're interested in adding aroma-filled bubbles to your home bar creations, then follow the instructions in our troubleshooting videos to make great cocktail bubbles garnish your drinks and wow your guests.
Our Flavour Blaster mini is now available to order, so if you’d like to learn more about how and when to use it, please take a look at the information page!
