Pages

Sunday 17 October 2010

pretty in pink: lavender cordial

Last week I pre-ordered approximately 200 grams of fresh culinary-grade lavender from one of my favourite provedores, The Vegetable Connection, so I could create something for the International Incident Lavender Party hosted by Jeroxie, which is coming up soon, and when I turned up to the store to collect them I was pleasantly surprised by how much lavender that was.

the lavender was beautiful.
Since I had more lavender than I needed for my virtual party dish idea, I decided to make lavender cordial as a warm-up to the actual event. There are lots of lavender cordial recipes out there on the internet, and I settled on this lavender cordial-syrup recipe as a guide just because it looked very easy to follow.

This is how I went about it...

11/2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh edible lavender flowers (may be substituted with 2 tablespoons dried)
1 small lemon
sugar (the recipe I consulted says 1/2 cup granulated sugar, but I substituted instead with just a small lump of chinese yellow rock sugar for a milder sweetness)

- Shake the flowers and rinse with water to clean them.
- Boil sugar and water in a saucepan until sugar has completely dissolved.
- Turn off the heat and add the lavender flowers.
- Cover and let it steep for 45 minutes.
- Strain the liquid and add lemon juice. With the addition of lemon juice, the colour turned into a gorgeous sunset pink!
- Pour into clean jars (I sterilized mine with very hot water) and store in the fridge.

a sweet lavender infusion
Before tasting, I had my concerns that lavender cordial might be a bit too floral for my liking, but I found this to be really quite charming. I tried it with iced water at first and that was refreshing. I then offered some to Simon. He liked it too and, with the weather being cold and rainy that day, was soon asking me if I could make him a hot lavender tea. This I did, simply by adding the cordial to freshly boiled water, and we both enjoyed that as well. Nice and soothing!

I imagine this lavender cordial would be great in other types of beverages too - a cocktail, perhaps? - and with a wide assortment of desserts. Possibly even savoury foods, if you are feeling a little adventurous! So if you have lots of lavender, this could be something worth trying. It looks so pretty, too!

 lovely lavender cordial

10 comments:

  1. I have heaps of lavender in my yard... wonder if they could be used? =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I absolutely adore lavender tea. I am completely jealous of Simon for getting some! That lavender looks so beautiful! I bet it would be great to add to ice cream!!! I wish I had a garden of lavender.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi almostalwaysravenous, I'm not 100% sure but I think all lavender is edible as long as it has not been treated with nasties such as pesticides etc. However, some types are better for cooking than others. I guess you can try a little bit, see how it goes?

    Thanks Melissa! I don't have a garden (apartment living... sigh) so I'm lucky I knew of a store that could provide me with fresh ones! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I already feel calm and soothed looking at this. Such wonderful therapy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love lavender and thanks for sharing this cordial recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks tigerfish and Ellie! Definitely one for the lavender-lovers... you get a whiff of the lavender scent whenever you go to drink it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your photographs are SO beautiful! And the lavender cordial sounds amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This sounds so good! I would love to try some!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails