It
was a really hot summer day, from the kind lacking any little whiffs or
clouds. Our little family was heading towards Lake Balaton, where Lonka
and Simon accompanied us.
-
Are we there? - Lonka was asking in every 5th minute during the two
hours long roadtrip. Simon, being the calm and smart boy as always, was
telling her stories all the way long about flower fairies and other
magical nature carers.
We
wanted to pick some huge bouquets of lavender for making some tasteful
syrup, which reminds us to the tastes of summer all around the whole
year. We also want to make some moths sacks to prevent all our little
wool-friends from the always hungry moths. Lonka and Simon are big
nature lovers, but they aim at avoiding any kind of moths, its a kind of
loving each other from a well defined distance relationship.
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The lavender plantation belongs to the Balaton Upland National Park, the huge brushes are under the hill of Tihany, where the beautiful Benedictine Abbey can be found. Lonka and Simon had planned
that trip for weeks, so they were kind of excited, when we could catch a
glimpse of the Lake.
When we reached the plantation Little Miss Tittle-Tattle lost her power of speech. The endless lines of these beautiful lilac-greenish bushes enchanted her. Simon took care for a harvesting tool for everyone, he put a little knife, or scissors in each bag.
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Their
little pair where so helpful, they were picking lavender flowers for
two hours, without taking any break. Both were really careful not to
pull on the plants too much, or not to step on the little seedlings. We
collected two full bags of the lilac flowers, before decided on having a
well deserved rest, eating brilliant handcrafted ice-creams in the
shadows of the Abbey.
The tastes of the pale lilac syrup we made will call out of our memory not just summer as it is, but this beautiful trip all around the year.
Here you can find the recipe, if you want to make some lavender syrup for yourself or your loved ones as well:
Cut off the freshly picked flowers from the stem.
You don't have to remove the little flowers from the stem, just cut off
the excess, where there are no flowers at all.
Fill a pot between to its 1/2 or 2/3 height with the flowers.
Filling it half you get
a more fruity flavor with not so harshly characteristic lavender in it, if you want stronger flavors, you should choose to fill up to
2/3 height.
Pour as much water on it that fills the pot
completely, and please count how many liters you used.
Add a thoroughly washed and sliced organic lemon for every 2 liters.
Put a plate
or a cover on it, and let it rest in the fridge for two days.
Take the pot out of the fridge, and add a teaspoon of citric acid for every 2 liters of water you added.
Adding citric acid makes the lavender to stain the syrup into beautiful pale lilac.
Filter
it through a dense sieve or a clean kitchen towel.
Heat it up to a point when it
is easier to dissolve the sugar.
Add 3/4 kg sugar per every liter of
water you added.
Steer it until all of the sugar is dissolved.
Put it back on the stove and boil it for 5 minutes.
The longer the heating is, the more of the lilac color fades away.
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Pour it into sterilized jars with screw on lids, be careful to fasten the lids as much as you can.
Let the jars cool down under blankets, or other warm-keeping material, to slow down the cooling process.
Our jars rested in an armchair covered with two warm blankets, and cooled down completely in three days.
We
are already enjoying this little gift of nature, the other day we had
some picnic, and as usual, Lonka and Simon were playing all
hide-and-seek, running competition and
who-finds-the-prettiest-flower-faster all day. When I could convince
them, to have a rest, and sit down for some minutes, they drunk off a
bottle of refreshing lavender syrup. Lonka and Simon likes our syrup so
much, that they are trying to convince me, that 16 liters won't be
enough for us for the entire year.
I
hope I'm still in time with this recipe, so if you feel like, you can
make some syrup as well. Please let me know, if you used this recipe, it
would be nice to know. If you have any questions, feel free to comment
as well!
Lulu
