Lavender Lemonade

A leftover project from the weekend.

Avery and I had picked the lavender for this delicious treat on Sunday but we didn’t have the time to put it all together, so today, just before nap, we got stuck in. The recipe came from our facebook / pinterest group The Unmendables (which I adore! Feel free to join in!!). Of course, as usual, I deviated pretty heavily from the suggested everything.

Firstly I have to say that this is devine! And an amazingly fun activity to do with an inquisitive 3 year old. As far as the changes I made: I used 10 lemons and almost 1/2 a cup of lavender flowers. I would actually use more lavender next time as, although the flavor is there, it’s pretty subtle and I’d like a bit more of a floral kick. I also boiled the water, lavender and sugar on the stove for about 15 minutes. I felt like the colour really deepened in this time and the solution became nice and syrupy and fragrant. I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t pour off a little bottle of lavender syrup at this point. Silly Kate. I’m also really sad that I didn’t believe that the colour change would be such a pretty one. I had Avery stirring for me to see it but I didn’t pull Matt and Oliver over or record it (I had the thought in the back of my mind but for some reason thought…nahhhh). It was amazing! The liquid goes from a dusky purple to an almost neon pink, in heavy, lemony clouds, as you add the juice. I’m considering doing another smaller batch just to catch this change. Avery and I were smitten with it.

Oh, also, one other thing we did that I didn’t see in the recipe, we strained out the lavender flowers. I guess, maybe the results would be more flavorful if we’d left them in and I wouldn’t be complaining about it not being lavender-y enough but there’s no way I’m going to get my kid to drink lemonade with floating flowers in it. Nor my husband either, for that matter. Anyway, after we’d boiled the mix for a while, I strained them out before adding the lemon juice.

We let the mixture cool, Avery & Oliver took their afternoon nap and then we poured ourselves a long, icy glass of pink, floral lemonade. It was delightful! I think some of us could go for it a bit sweeter but I love the tang of a sour lemonade so I’ll leave the other parties to add their extra sugar should they so desire.

Make this. It tastes nice.

<disclaimer: I did not feel stoned after drinking this. I did however feel the need to lie on the floor for about 30 minutes but I think that’s mostly to do with the two tiny boys following me around and demanding hugs/tickles/piggybacks/etc>