Tea Herb Syrup Freezer Cubes

From the garden

• 2 cups fresh tea herbs (lemon verbena, lemon balm, mint, or anise hyssop), leaves and tender tips, loosely packed, rinsed · one herb per batch keeps the flavor clear; label the tray

From the pantry

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 lemon, juiced · keeps the syrup bright and the color fresh
• ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional) · lovely with lemon verbena or chamomile

1. Combine the sugar with 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer 2 minutes, then take it off the heat.
2. Bruise the herb leaves in your hands and stir them into the hot syrup. Cover and steep 20–30 minutes off the heat; do not boil the leaves or the flavor goes dull and stewed. Taste at 20 minutes and pull the herbs when the syrup tastes clearly of them.
3. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing the leaves, and discard them. Stir in the lemon juice and the vanilla, if using. Cool to room temperature.
4. Pour into ice cube trays (a standard tray holds about 1 tablespoon per cube) and freeze overnight until solid. Pop the cubes out and pack them into a labeled freezer bag with the herb name and date.
5. Use straight from the freezer: one or two cubes per glass of sparkling water, lemonade, or iced tea, or melt a few into fruit salad or over pound cake. Lemon verbena and lemon balm make a lemony syrup, mint and anise hyssop a cool bright one, and chamomile flowers a honeyed floral one; a stevia leaf or two in the steep lets you cut the sugar.