I live in the Pacific Northwest, where lavender seems to grow like a weed. Recently, I’ve noticed a few upscale bars beginning to incorporate this wonderfully pungent herb into some of their high priced cocktails. If you’re lucky enough to live where lavender is abundant or if you have a plant that you’re cultivating in a planter, you could use a few lavender heads (a little goes a long way) in your next patio cocktail.
According to homeopathic medicine, lavender is an effective antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, insect repellant, and its aroma has a calming and relaxing effect. How many other cocktail ingredients can claim all that?
If you’re ready to experiment with lavender—and think a calming, floral drink that keeps away the bugs is a bonus—try these.
Lavender Cosmopolitan
1 ounce mandarin vodka
1 ounce parfait amour
1 ounce cranberry Juice
1 slice lime
Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with a lime wedge and dip the glass into lavender sugar (sugar and a small pinch of a lavender head ground briefly in a spice mill) to coat the rim thoroughly. Pour mandarin vodka, parfait amour, and cranberry juice into a chilled shaker. Shake well and pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.
Lavender Martini
1 ounce lavender buds, crushed
2 ounces vodka
1 dash dry vermouth
Fill a large martini glass with crushed ice. Use the stem of the lavender as a stir stick, swirling the ice around the glass and infusing the lavender flavor into the ice. Roll the stem briefly between your fingertips to swirl the ice around and chill the glass.
Muddle the fresh lavender in a muddling glass and fill with crushed ice. Pour the vodka and the dash of dry vermouth into the glass. Stir briefly.
Empty the ice from the martini glass and shake out any water. Strain cocktail into chilled martini glass.
Garnish with a vermouth-soaked, almond-stuffed olive.
Lavender Wine
Pluck four to ten lavender corollas from a fresh lavender head and float them across a chilled, light white wine. Or use a stem with a small flower head as a swizzle stick (flower side down).
Lavender Lemonade
Steep 1/2 cup dried lavender flowers in a quart of boiling water for about fifteen minutes Strain and use the liquid to make up a part of the water in a frozen lemonade mix.
For lemonade cocktails, add 1 ounce of lemon vodka per drink. Garnish with just a few lavender corollas.
Lavender Punch
Juice of three lemons
6 cups pineapple juice
1 teaspoon chopped lavender
1 small bottle ginger ale
Sugar to taste
Combine ingredients and serve cold.
For an exotic cocktail, add pomegranate vodka (or mandarin) to a martini glass prior to pouring punch into glass. Garnish with a few lavender corollas.
With the lavender blooming and weather warming, now’s the time to try these delicious concoctions. They’ll be sure to leave you in a pleasant purple haze.
