French Riviera

While we envision the South of France, we are overwhelmed with the beauty of the Lavender fields of Provence. Long aisles of resplendent lavender farms spread across acres, burst into a vivid purple hue spreading heavenly delicate fragrances all along. If we were to capture the beauty of fresh lavender and a trip to France in a coupe, we could find it blended beautifully by Tapan Kumar, Bartender at Hyatt Regency Pune, with his Lilac Cocktail.

After pouring in 60 ml of vodka, Tapan adds in 30 ml of cranberry juice along with 10ml of home-made lavender syrup, which helps in infusing the cocktail with flowery aromatics. He then adds in 2 dashes of home-made honey and 5 gms of spiced honey that kicks in a tingle in your throat as you drink it. As the cocktail is very smooth on the palate, Tapan adds in an egg white which gives it a rich, creamy texture and a beautiful foamy cap. Finally, all the ingredients are added into a shaker with ice and strained into a coupe and garnished with lavender blossoms.

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As an ingredient Lavender makes for an ideal summer sipper, whether it is infused in a cocktail or is garnished over it. As you take a sip of this aperitif, your first thoughts are: that it is light and refraissant, as the French would say, distinct from anything you have been served back home. And this well - balanced cocktail is as beautiful as it tastes. “Made from 70 per cent home-made ingredients this spirit proves to be a perfect balance of sweetness, sourness, spices and botanicals which makes it an ideal choice in the culinary-cocktail explosion,” concludes Tapan.

From the February 2020 issue of FHM India.