I love a latte, whole milk and 8 oz in size. Most people laugh when I pick up my tiny latte compared to their l2 or even 16-oz size. Whatever! I go for taste of the bean and find that a larger size = more milk and less bean.

Anyway last week I found myself trying a lavender latte and it was quite delicious, not too sweet but definitely different than my usual. In these times I think stepping outside the box is warranted. It was however a bit pricey @ $5.75 for 12 ounces.

I had noticed the lavender vendor at the local farmers market last weekend and decided to look up some recipe options and perhaps make my own lavender syrup. There were several variations which were basic simple syrup with culinary lavender. I am so doing this!

Saturday is finally here and the market is my destination. I chatted briefly with the lavender vendor and mentioned I wanted to make syrup. She had a prepackaged bag with sugar and lavender ready to go ($8) but I told her I was going to try monk fruit sweetener first so the drink could be keto/low carb. She looked at me as though she had not thought of that before – but what a great idea!

Culinary lavender purchased for $8. Guessing there is close to a 1/2 cup of lavender in the tin.

The recipe I chose was a combination of three, keto simple syrup from Urban Cowgirl (thoroughly enjoying her food science information about using a sweetener other than sugar, recipe from Wickedstuffed and the latte recipe from Roastycoffee.com. That’s how I research recipes…

My recipe used the following:

1/2 cup Monkfruit, 1/16 tsp xanthan gum – (Add to saucepan, mix well with whisk before adding water)

2 tsp culinary lavender

1 cup water

Mix well, stir with whisk until boiling. Continue whisking for 45 seconds while boiling and take off heat. Let mixture sit for 5-8 minutes (I chose 6 minutes).

Using cheesecloth, pour the mixture into a glass jar or container. I did not have cheesecloth so ended up with a few lavender buds in my syrup. Cheesecloth will be on my future grocery list.

I actually made a cappuccino instead of a latte and put 1 TBL of syrup into the cup before making espresso. It was a very nice hint of lavender and while this will not be a daily beverage for me, I know I will keep the syrup handy for experimentation drinks.

Next up will be an iced version of a coffee drink, and possibly an iced tea. I read that earl grey combines excellently with lavender syrup. I shall give that a try!

#lavendarlattes