Tarragon Lemonade

Memorial Day weekend has arrived!

When I think of summer, I think of lemonade, and since I always have to be a little bit fancy, I can't just serve plain lemonade. There are several fresh herbs that would be fantastic in lemonade like lavender, pineapple mint, or purple basil. Also, you don't have to make your lemonade from scratch, you can cheat and infuse nice quality store-bought lemonade...I won't tell.

Here is a recipe for Tarragon Lemonade via Food and Wine:

 Ingredients

10 cups water
2 1/4 cups sugar
17 tarragon sprigs
6 cups fresh lemon juice, strained (from about 40 lemons)
12 thin lemon slices for garnish
Salt
Ice

Directions

1.In a medium saucepan, combine 4 cups of water with the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer over moderately high heat until reduced to 3 1/4 cups, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and add 5 of the tarragon sprigs. Let stand, stirring often, until cooled to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Discard the tarragon sprigs.

2.In a large glass pitcher, combine the remaining 6 cups of water with the tarragon syrup and fresh lemon juice. Add a pinch of salt, stirring until it dissolves. Serve the tarragon lemonade over ice, garnished with the lemon slices and the remaining 12 tarragon sprigs.
 
Tarragon (also known as dragon's-wort) is great because it rustic-looking and a little bit goes a long way but get creative and use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand...let me know what you come up with!
 
Photo Credit: Buff Strickland