Fifteen-Minute Fix #12: The Art of the Simple Syrup

Sometimes it helps to stretch my art-making muscle by being creative in another area of my life – cooking.  For this blog post I get three creative practices for the price of one – cooking, taking the picture and writing about it all.

It all started when I went to my garden this morning and noticed that the lemon verbena had grown five feet tall.  A very good friend recently gifted me with a giant bag of lemons and presto! It’s lemonade time.

Lemon Verbena Simple Syrup
Photo by Anne LaBrie ©2013

INGREDIENTS

1 cup lemon verbena leaves

1.5 cups water

1.25 cups sugar (approx)

A heat-proof Pyrex measuring cup

Wash the leaves, bunch them up in your fist and break into (roughly) thirds.  This helps release the oils from the plants.  Put leaves in a small saucepan and cover with the water.  Boil for 2 minutes.

Pour the water into the heatproof measuring cup.  Discard the leaves. How much water is in the cup at this point?  With a dry measuring cup, measure out that same amount of sugar and place into the pot.  Pour the hot water back into the pot on top of the sugar and stir to combine.  Boil for 2 minutes.

Pour syrup back into the heatproof cup and let cool.

When cool, pour syrup into a container and store in fridge.

LEMONADE for One

Cut one large lemon in quarters and squeeze each quarter into a small colander that’s been placed over a tall drinking glass.  Remove colander and add 1.5 tablespoons Lemon Verbena Syrup.  Fill the glass 2/3 full of water and stir.  You can now add more syrup based on your own preference of sweet to tart!  Add ice and you’re ready to go. This Lemon Verbena Simple Syrup also tastes great in iced tea, mojitos, or drizzled lightly over fruit!