By Elizabeth Stark
A few years ago, two good friends got married in an East Village community garden here in NYC. It was a sultry summer day, the garden was lush, and homemade butterfly decorations danced in the breeze. To cool guests off, the bride and groom thoughtfully served a variety of herb-infused lemonades. Now, I guess I’ve led a sheltered life, but I’d never had herbed lemonade before, and instantly fell in love with their fragrant and refreshing concoction.
Though it was a revelation at the time, I kind of forgot about the lemonade. And then I started my popsicle kick and realized that herbed lemonade popsicles would be amazing. And guess what? They are. Bright and sweet with a wonderful hint of herbal grassiness, this is the flavor of summer.
I’ve used rosemary in my recipe, but lavender, thyme, basil, or tarragon would be marvelous.
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Strawberries and Sour Cream Popsicles
Rosemary-Infused Lemonade Popsicles
Makes: Six to eight 3 oz. popsicles
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 2 big sprigs rosemary, plus a few leaves for each popsicle
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (10-12 lemons)
Directions:
- In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar and cook over medium heat. Once the mixture has boiled and the sugar dissolved, add the corn syrup, lemon zest and rosemary, and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the rosemary to steep while the mixture cools, for at least 15 minutes.
- Remove the rosemary sprigs. Combine 1 cup of the simple syrup and the lemon juice. Pour into popsicle molds along with a few whole rosemary leaves, freeze for 40 minutes, add the sticks, and then freeze completely for 3 hours or more.
