Lemongrass, mint, ginger and kaffir lime syrup

A deliciously refreshing and lightly perfumed syrup. Use it in a spritz, drizzle over pancakes or enjoy in cocktails.

Hot days call for cold drinks. Lots of them.

Last weekend was especially hot. A preview of the coming summer and she showed us what she could do. It was so hot that we discovered later that part of the dashboard in my husbands car melted in the heat!

After my usual early morning trip to the farmers market – both to beat the crowds and the heat – I came home with armfuls of herbs. There was a huge tangle of mint, along with a bundle of lemongrass, a knob of ginger and a big bag of kaffir lime leaves.

Following a hot morning of housework I decided to make a deliciously spiced syrup, or cordial as we call it here in Australia using the lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime and mint I’d picked up at the markets. And it was so good, and oh so refreshing. Slightly, but not overly sweet, and lightly perfumed from the wonderful kaffir lime.

There are lots of ways to enjoy this syrup. Here are just a few:

• Serve it with sparkling water, a wedge of lime, and mint leaves for a wonderfully refreshing day time drink.
• Spice things up with rum, muddled lime and mint, along with the syrup and soda water for a spiced take on a mojito.
• Add to a tall glass along with shaved cucumber, elderflower cordial, gin and sparkling water for a fresh take on a Collins.
• Drizzle over pancakes.
• Pour over buttermilk pannacotta and serve with slices of mango

The Collins was especially welcome later in the afternoon after my oven exploded….but that’s another story!

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Lemongrass, mint, ginger and kaffir lime syrup

Author Jennifer Schmidt

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• zest and juice of 3 large limes
• 2 lemongrass stalks white part only, halved
• 4 slices coin-sized of ginger
• 1 leaves big handful kaffir lime roughly torn
• 1 leaves big handful mint

Instructions

1. Add the water and sugar to a large saucepan and stir well. Add the remaining ingredients and place over a medium heat. Stir until all of the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and leave for a couple of hours to infuse. Strain and decant into sterilised bottles.

Recipe Notes

Keeps for a couple of weeks if it doesn't disappear before then.