It’s Lavender Season, Hipcooks! Grab lavender flowers (dried or fresh), and make Lavender Simple Syrup: a beautifully sweet and blushing pink syrup. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to herald spring — when the lavender bushes pop open and are deliciously fragrant.
There are so many great uses for lavender simple syrup, you’ll find yourself making this whenever you see lavender blossoms. Need some hints to get you started? Try a shot in your coffee, for a Lavender Latte. Or make one of our favorite cocktails, the Lavendar Cocktail, perfect for Mother’s Day. For teetotalers and mocktail-ers, this simple syrup is delicious and refreshing in lemonade or iced tea.
Be a flower child
Get out there, Hipcooks, and inhale a bit of nature today. It will do you good. The hippies (and hip-cooks!) have long since prized lavender for its calming effects. It is said to reduce stress and anxiety, common side-effects of Quarantine. Sure, lavender essential oil rubbed on your temples, or as a foot-rub at night may coax a blissful sleep: but how about you get outside and enjoy the real deal? Take yourself on a walk. The odds are high (higher than receiving a PPP loan, that’s for sure) that you’ll find some of these beautiful purple blossoms. Check first for bees, and then run your fingers along the stem and buds, scrunching them as you go. Lift your hands to your nose and take a deep breath. Ahhh.
Can you bottle that bliss? You can, Hipcooks, you sure can.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 large handful (about ½ a cup) freshly picked lavender buds (or use dried)Instructions
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn off the heat and add the lavender buds. Allow to steep as the mixture cools. After a few minutes, give it a taste — it should be wonderfully aromatic. Otherwise, heat gently, and add more flowers until it's perfect for you.
Strain and cool. This will keep for about 2 week's in the fridge, but it is much more fun to keep in plain sight in the kitchen, where you'll dream up delicious uses for it.
