Luscious Lemonades with Flavor Infused Syrup

Last March when Jenn and I
traveled to Argentina to visit Allison, we took an overnight flight. In the morning, just before we landed, they
served us medialunas (croissants) and café con leche. The typical Argentine breakfast didn’t fill
me up for long, and by the time we arrived at Allison’s apartment I was ready
for lunch. She took us to a fun, trendy
Buenos Aires’s neighborhood called “Palermo Hollywood”. It was a warm day and by the time we were
seated at the restaurant, we felt wilted and jet lagged. The waiter gave us a printed copy of the menu
and we checked off our choices with a pencil.
One option under the beverage section was lemongrass infused ginger
lemonade. Refreshingly tangy but sweet, it was just the thing to give me a jolt
of energy. Later in the week, after Caroline joined us, we found ourselves in
another cute Palermo café. There I had some delicious mint infused lemonade. In the months since I’ve gotten back home, I
have tried to duplicate these flavor infused lemonades. It has taken a while – either they have
tasted too weak or were teeth achingly sweet. I fell back on the southern way
of making lemonade; I made simple syrup but infused it with a flavor. I think this version below tastes pretty yummy, and
the level of sweetness can be altered by adding or deleting the amount of
sugar. Likewise, the flavor intensity of the ginger and herbs can be increased or diminished by playing around with the amounts put into the simple syrup. I came up with some interesting combinations such as:
Lemon and Lavender
Ginger and Mint (peel the ginger before slicing when making simple syrup)
Basil and Lemon
For a Batch of Flavor Infused Simple Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
A flavor ingredient such as: ¼
teaspoon dried culinary lavender, thumbsized piece of ginger – sliced, or ¼ cup
of herb leaves such as mint or basil
Place ingredients in a pan
over high heat. Stir until the sugar
dissolves. Allow to reach a boil and
then let the mixture simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the syrup into a
container
For the Infused Lemonade:
Simple syrup from above
8 to 10 lemons, squeezed to
make 2 cups juice
1 gallon of water
Additional lemon slices and
herb sprigs for garnishing
Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher along with ice. Use the lemon slices and herb sprigs to garnish each individual glassful.
No comments:
Post a Comment