The Floral Herb Your Lemonade Is Desperately Missing

On hot summer afternoons and warmer spring days, there's nothing like a refreshing glass of lemonade to cool you down and help you relax. But, rather than just making a standard recipe of freshly squeezed lemons, water, and sugar, why not mix things up and throw in some lavender for a fun, floral twist?

Lavender adds a minty-cool freshness to your drink that makes it even more refreshing in hot weather. Plus, it has a floral, rosemary-like taste that adds herbaceous notes to your drink, cutting some of that sweetness. What's more, it can have subtle citrus notes that enhance the lemony taste of your beverage.

Better yet, this drink doesn't have to be complicated to make. You can actually use the ingredient to upgrade store-bought lemonade if you don't feel like fussing around with homemade lemonade recipes. Even if it's not made from scratch, lavender will elevate the drink and add a classy feel, making it the ideal pick for garden parties or gatherings where you want to impress your friends.

Before racing out to your garden to cut lavender for this drink, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Firstly, it's best to use culinary-grade lavender to make this lemonade. Culinary lavender is safe to eat and is free from pesticides that might be used on ornamental lavender. It also has fewer oils in it, which means the flavor is much more subtle. This helps you avoid the lemonade becoming overpowered by the flower, which can cause it to take on a soapy or astringent flavor.

Once you have your lavender in hand, there are a couple of ways to add it to your lemonade. The simplest method is to simply drop a few sprigs into your drink. The longer you allow them to steep in the lemonade, the stronger the flavor will be. Another option is to use the lavender in a simple syrup recipe and stir that into your drink in place of sugar. Or, you can steep the flowers in hot water, drain them, toss them away, and use the water to make lemonade as usual. 

Finally, don't forget that a little lavender goes a long way. Start with less and slowly adjust your recipe to introduce more floral notes. That way, you avoid going overboard and winding up with an overpowering floral flavor.

If you're a fan of this beverage idea, you'll be happy to know you can use it to make lemonade cocktails perfect for any season as well. To let the taste of the lemonade shine through, vodka, which is a neutrally-flavored liquor, is a good pick. On the other hand, if you want to ramp up the lavender flavor, you can also play around with gin. Gin has a floral flavor thanks to the botanicals used to make it, which can work particularly well with the taste of the flowers in your lemonade.

Another option for making a lavender lemonade cocktail is to use it as an orange juice swap in a classic mimosa recipe. The floral, rosemary tones of the lavender perfectly complement the crispness of the champagne. Plus, it's a classy upgrade, ideal for a bridal shower, celebratory brunch, or other formal event. Whether you serve it as a boozy beverage or stick to a classic, kid-friendly recipe, lavender lemonade is the ideal beverage for warm summer afternoons when you want something refreshing to sip on.