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Lavender Syrup is simple to make and adds a sweet, floral note to hot and iced coffee and tea, lattes, lemonade, cocktails, desserts, and more. A clever trick makes the syrup a pretty shade of purple!

Lavender Syrup

The secret to this syrup's beautiful color isn't actually the lavender. It’s blueberries! The easy-to-make floral syrup adds memorable flavor and color to cocktails, mocktails, lemonade, iced and hot teas, coffees, and lattes. See the post above for additional recipes.
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Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes
seep time 15 minutes
Total Time 26 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup (237g) water
  • 1 cup (192g) sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (4g) dried lavender (look for culinary grade)
  • 12-15 blueberries (fresh or frozen; optional for light purple color)

Instructions

  1. Bring the water and sugar (the lavender is added later) to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. If using fresh blueberries, add them once the mixture comes to a simmer.
  2. Continue to cook at a rapid simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens slightly, about 8-9 minutes. If using frozen blueberries, add them in the final minute or two of simmering, as their colorful juices will readily be released. There is no need to thaw them.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the lavender, and let steep for 10-20 minutes. You can taste and steep longer for a little deeper flavor – I go with 15-20 minutes.
  4. Strain the lavender and blueberries: A fine mesh strainer can be used, but it won’t filter out all the little particles, so I line it with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag (which is reusable and easily rinses clean). A coffee filter-lined strainer may also be used.
  5. Cool to room temperature, then transfer the syrup to a glass jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate.
  6. Storage: The syrup will keep in the refrigerator for a month. Eventually, the sugar may begin to crystalize on the side and/or bottom of the jar or bottle (the stirring from regular use tends to prevent this), but the taste will still be fine.

Notes

What kind of lavender do I use? Look for dried lavender flowers labeled as culinary or meant cooking and eating. This will have less oil than the aromatic lavender used in perfumes and soaps. English lavender is extremely popular as a culinary lavender. Packages are sometimes labeled as lavender flowers. Culinary lavender can also be purchased in bulk (Lemon Street Market for locals). If you grow your own, harvest it just before the flowers open and dry the buds before using them. Do not use the leaves, as they have a somewhat medicinal fragrance and are not recommended for cooking.
Make lavender-vanilla syrup: Add 1 tablespoon pure vanilla syrup along with the lavender upon removing the pot from the heat. 
Troubleshooting: For a recent batch, I absent-mindedly added the lavender along with the water and sugar at the beginning. After simmering as usual, but this time with the lavender (rather than simply steeping it at the end), the batch turned out just fine. The perceptible difference was not the flavor, but rather the color, which was slightly less vibrant than my previous batches. 
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