We love this lavender simple syrup. You can make it on a slow afternoon, and then it lives in the door of the fridge for up to two weeks. You can do a lot with it: a spoonful in lemonade, a pour into soda water, a little something over peaches or apricots, or mix it into a cocktail. It’s delicious.
The basics
Makes: about 1 cup
Active cooking: About 10 minutes
Steeping: 20–30 minutes
Cooling: 30–45 minutes
Keeps about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
What you’ll need
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons dried lavender buds — we use angustifolia, our kitchen variety
- Optional: a strip of lemon peel
How we make it
- Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Warm over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the lavender. Drop the heat to low and bring it to a gentle simmer. You want a few bubbles, not a rolling boil; a hard boil just cooks off water and can turn the lavender bitter.
- Let it simmer for about a minute, just enough to be sure the sugar’s fully dissolved. Then turn off the heat. (If you like a little zing, drop in a strip of lemon peel now.)
- Steep off the heat for 20–30 minutes. The residual heat does the real work. Taste toward the shorter end — lavender can go soapy if it steeps too long.
- Strain out the buds through a fine-mesh strainer. Line it with cheesecloth if you’d like the syrup crystal-clear.
- Let it cool to room temperature (about 30–45 minutes) then pour into a jar, seal, and refrigerate. It’ll keep about two weeks.
A few notes
- Start with one (1) tablespoon of dried lavender buds and taste as you go. It’s easy to add; impossible to take back. A single tablespoon may be enough.
- You can experiment with adding a strip of lemon peel to the steep and see if you like it.
- The deep-purple angustifolia is the one we use the kitchen. It’s the same lavender that goes into nearly everything we make.
What to do with it
- Stir into lemonade or iced tea.
- Pour a little into soda water over ice.
- Spoon over peaches, or over yogurt.
- Sweeten a cocktail.
- Brush over a cake — or over lavender shortbread.
Behind the scenes: From bundle to buds
The buds we used for this recipe came from one of our dried bundles. We started with a dried bundle that was harvested a few weeks ago and dried.
We pulled a few of the stalks out — it only takes a few to get a tablespoon of dried buds.
We then shake the buds through strainers to clean them.
After that, the buds are ready to go!
