Lavender is one of my favorite herbs for a busy, worry-prone brain. This fragrant member of the mint family helps to calm the mind and make space for a nervous person to sort through their thoughts and set aside unproductive ones—an important first step toward making a lasting mindset change.

One of my favorite things about lavender is that the aromatherapeutic properties of the plant are as impactful as internal applications, so any time you smell the plant, the therapeutic effects are already working their magic. This means that when you cook with lavender, you enjoy healthful benefits in both the preparation process and the finished product!

I find a lavender glycerin tincture or tea blend to be soothing ways to use the herb, and in my book Recipes from the Herbalist's Kitchen, I discuss a variety of other apothecary and culinary preparations ranging from a Lavender Salt Scrub to the refreshing Lavender Fizz recipe I’m excited to share here.

This flowery, slightly sweet drink is a cross between soda and champagne and can contain a very small amount of alcohol. The carbonation is a natural by-product of the fermentation process, a sign that the fizz is active and alive (making for an energizing digestif). Balanced with lavender’s soothing properties, this bubbly beverage will gently lift you up while helping you wind down!

Lemon Lavender Fermented Soda Recipe

Makes about 8 cups.
Active Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 7 1/2 cups distilled, spring, or boiled water
• 1/2 cup raw, local honey
• 1 Tbsp. organic white wine vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. fresh or dried organic lavender flowers
• 1 organic lemon, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

Directions

1. Combine water, honey, vinegar, lavender, and lemon in a clean half-gallon mason jar.
2. Secure lid and shake well until honey has dissolved. Set the mixture aside to ferment at room temperature, covered, for 2 days.
3. Strain out lavender and lemon using a cheesecloth or funnel with strainer and transfer liquid into glass bottles with tight-fitting lids, leaving about 1/2 inch of headroom in each bottle.
4. Set bottles aside in a cool, dark place to ferment for 3 days.
5. Open one of the bottles and taste it. If soda is still not carbonated, replace lid and let bottles continue to ferment, tasting regularly, until fizzy.
6. Once soda reaches desired carbonation, transfer bottles to refrigerator to slow fermentation.

Pro Tips:

• Lids must be secure to contain carbonation that will develop as liquid ferments. Loose lids will leave you with a flat, though still tasty, beverage.
• The time required to carbonate your fizz will vary depending on the temperature of the space where you are fermenting and on the activity of the yeasts that form in the soda.
• Sometimes, a bit of mold can form on the surface of the soda during the fermentation process. This is just surface mold, and the soda is still good; simply remove the mold and proceed.

Excerpted from Recipes from the Herbalist’s Kitchen © by Brittany Wood Nickerson, photography © by Alexandra Grablewski, used with permission from Storey Publishing.

Want More Botanical Beverage Inspiration?

Try These Elder Flower Simple Syrup and Cocktail Recipes!

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• How to Make Herbal Vinegar
• How to Make Kombucha at Home
• Herbal Carmelite Water Recipe with Lemon Balm