Flower power adds punch to local bar menus with a local woman's line of gourmet elixirs

CLEVELAND - Inspired by international food trends that use flowers for flavor, local entrepreneur Nora Egger has created a line of fragrant floral elixirs that are showing up in signature cocktails at many Cleveland area bars and restaurants.

She has created elixirs of Antillean Hibiscus, Damascan Rose, Andean Fire Orchid and English Lavender. The Lounging Gourmet line of divine floral elixirs came from the taste and imagination of Nora Egger. A decade of living and traveling in Europe inspired her to create something different that could be used in drinks, teas, salad dressings and more. Months of experimentation in her parents' Shaker Heights kitchen resulted in four perfected flavors.

Egger produces each batch by hand in a small commercial space in Strongsville. And more bars and restaurants are lining up to use them for imaginative cocktails, iced teas and delicate soda waters. At Chinato on East 4th Street in Cleveland, Elixir of English Lavender is the soft, sweet note and gorgeous color for their signature "Duke and Duchess" gin martini.

And The Lounging Gourmet is grabbing a spot in other cities as well. New York's Museum of Sex on 5th Avenue has several beverages featuring the elixirs on the menu at their Aphrodisiac Cafe. Egger is currently working on some new flavors.  You'll find more information about The Lounging Gourmet online and on Facebook .