LEMON THYME SYRUP

Homemade herb syrups can be as simple or diverse as you want them to be.

Diana Short‘s lemon thyme syrup for crepes, pancakes and waffles – or cocktails and mocktails – is simple but divine.

Lemon thyme has a gentle thyme flavour with a subtle aroma of lemon. If you don’t have lemon thyme, try a mix of lemon verbena or lemon balm and common thyme.

Ingredients • 1 cup water • ½ cup sugar • ¼ cup fresh lemon thyme leaves

Bring water, sugar and lemon thyme leaves to boil over moderate heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil until syrup is reduced to about ¾ cup (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat, cover for about 30 minutes, then pour through a sieve into a serving jug, discarding the thyme.

Make a similar syrup with elderflowers. Fresh elderflowers have a rather bitter flavour when eaten raw, but when infused the fragrant liquid becomes grape-like in flavour. Use elderflowers and lemon balm together for a delicious syrup.