Eating Locally in the Pacific Northwest

Summertime Sippin’ . . . with Herbs

It’s a tradition of mine to make homemade lemonade on my birthday in August - just a few lemons, sugar, water, and ice.

This year I was inspired by Jerry Traunfeld (The Herbfarm Cookbook), yet again, and decided to make his herbal infused lemonade, a twist on tradition. I have a yard full of the right herbs, mint, rosemary, lemon balm, lavender and he provides encouragement to experiment.

A little daunted I must admit, at having rosemary infused in my lemonade, but I tried it, liked it and so did my daughter and husband. In fact we liked it a lot. Next step, try it out on friends. Four of us got together and cooked for my 08/08/08 party, and slurped down glasses of rosemary lemonade. I imagined that we would take a break and sit on rickety chairs in the sun-dappled backyard, contentedly chatting beneath the apple trees, but no. We stood in the kitchen and chopped while we sipped. They approved, so this beverage made the cut and I’ll make some for the party.

Delicious and so easy. Here’s Jerry Traunfeld’s recipe for the rosemary version of his herbal lemonades as described in The Herbfarm Cookbook. This makes a pitcherful:

Bring 2 cups of water and ½ cup sugar to a boil.

Turn heat off, add 4 – 6 sprigs of 4” rosemary, put a lid on and let sit for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, squeeze ½ - 2/3 cups of lemon juice and place remaining 4 cups of water in the pitcher.

After 30 minutes, strain rosemary-infused sugar water and add to the pitcher.

Stir together, add ice, and sip on.

In my effort to live and eat more sustainably I’ve cut back on citrus fruits. Though I’m using lemons for this special event, it’s helpful that this recipe requires far fewer lemons than a standard pitcher of lemonade and you still get a powerful flavor punch.

Using this same process, I’ll make pitchers of lavender, and mint-infused ‘lemonade’ as well, and add sprigs of lemon balm and rosemary along with a thin slice of lemon. Auspicious numbers like 08/08/08 deserve a party and toasts with rosemary lemonade.

Here’s to our lucky day.

Posted under: Beverages, In The Garden