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Tarragon lemonade
Tarkhuna: Tbilisi's bright green tarragon soda
Tarkhuna is the emerald-green soda that every Tbilisi child knows, sold from street fountains since the early 1900s and still poured in tall glasses at cafés on Rustaveli Avenue. The bottled kind is coloured; the home version gets its green from blitzing fresh tarragon with lemon and syrup, giving an aniseedy, sweet-sour fizz. A common mistake is boiling the tarragon, which dulls the colour and turns the flavour stewed. Chef's tip: blitz the herb into cool syrup and strain it straight away; the drink stays vivid green for a day in the fridge.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the syrup
- 4 oz sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 ⅜ oz fresh tarragonleaves and tender stems
- ¼ cup lemon juice
To serve
- 4 ¼ cups chilled sparkling water
- 12 ice cubes
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What you'll need
Spices & pantry
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Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Heat 4 oz sugar and ½ cup water in a small pan, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Cool completely.
5 minStep 2: Blitz the cold syrup with 1 ⅜ oz fresh tarragon and ¼ cup lemon juice in a blender for 1 minute, until bright green. Common mistake: using warm syrup; the green turns olive.
Step 3: Strain through a fine sieve, pressing hard on the pulp.
Step 4: Put a few 12 ice cubes cubes in each glass, add 3 tbsp of syrup and top with 4 ¼ cups chilled sparkling water. Stir and serve.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 80 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 20 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does tarragon lemonade take?
- About 20 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of lemon juice?
- Lime juice, same amount.
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