Garden lemonade

I spent the last two weeks on the eastern coast of the Adriatic sea, taking it what I would call "excessively easy" in many Croatian cafés. In addition to the other delicious foods I encountered as I ate my way across the coast—among them Dalmation pršut, homemade sheep's cheese, local olive oils, fresh sea food, Korculan "amareto" cookies, fresh figs stuffed with salty ricotta and drizzled with crushed nuts and honey, homemade schnaps presented by our hosts at several apartments, and all things truffles—many of the cafés served homemade lemonade. 

This lemonade came in its purest form, often just freshly squeezed lemon juice, sometimes with sugar on the side, and sometimes with mint, basil, or elderflower.

Inspired by my tiny, back-porch garden as I've been recently, I've been searching for new uses of the herbs I'm growing. These lemonades scratched that particular itch, and, conveniently, I returned home to a basil plant that looked like it was going to ask me to feed it, Seymore, and a greedy mint plant with roots physically in other planters. So I had to do something.

Enter: Sparkling brown sugar lemonade with lavender


Ingredients

7.5 lemons, juiced
3/4 cup brown sugar
2+ cups sparkling water (to dilute syrup), cold
Lavender sprigs for garnish

1. On medium heat, bring lemon juice and brown sugar to a simmer. Whisk heartily.

2. Remove from heat and allow syrup to cool. Chill syrup. 

3. Once cold, pour syrup into 2-4 individual glasses (depending on desired sweetness).

4. Dilute with cold sparkling water.

5. Garnish each glass with fresh lavender.

Note: Because it's diluted with sparkling water, it's better to store this syrup and dilute when you pour a glass, rather than all at once. 


Adapted from Simply Recipes. Inspired also by Vesta's awesome lemonade.



Enter also: Basil mint lemonade

Ingredients

7.5 lemons, juiced
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup fresh mint, loose + longer sprigs for garnish
1/2 cup fresh basil, loose + longer sprigs for garnish
2+ cups water (to dilute syrup), cold

1. On medium heat, bring lemon juice and sugar to a simmer. Whisk heartily.

2. Reduce heat to low-medium and add loose mint and basil. Once herbs wilt, let simmer for 2-5 minutes. As the dissolved sugar caramelizes, the color will turn a very light yellow-brown.

3. Remove from heat. Strain out wilted herbs and discard.

4. Dilute with 2-4 cups of water. 

5. Chill until serving.

6. Garnish each glass with fresh mint and basil.

Each of these recipes suffices for an afternoon of lemonade-filled porch-sitting for 2-4 people, depending on how diluted you take it.