Like many edible flowers, using
lavender in the kitchen is a time-honored
practice dating back to the Middle Ages. All lavenders will thrive in very well
drained soil in a location with full sun and good air circulation. It's a real
satisfaction connecting with these centuries-old traditions of using the
garden's bounty to grace the table, and fun creating new ways to enjoy the spicy
blooms.
Lavender flowers can be used either fresh or dried. They have few
pest and disease problems if these basic requirements are fulfilled.
To cook with lavender, you must
plant the sweetest scented varieties of these drought tolerant, deer resistant
perennials. There are many to choose from in good nurseries and from mail order
sources. Look for Lavendula angustifolia, which also may be sold as Lavendula
officianalis, Lavendula vera or True English Lavender. Most angustifolias,
which are actually sub-shrubs, reach 2 to 3 feet high and form rounded mounds 2
to 3 feet in diameter at maturity with grey green foliage and beautiful long
spikes of richly colored florets.
More compact cultivars of angustifolia that have good culinary qualities
include "Munstead",
a low growing 1 1/2 foot tall, and petite "Lavender Lady", a recent
fast-blooming introduction that grows just 1 foot tall. Both have fatter, more
open blooms than the slim, narrow spikes of the taller angustifolias. Harder to
find lavenders like white blooming "White
Ice" and pastel pink "Rosea" have a mild and more candy-like
scent. Another fine cooking lavender "Hidcote",
is a semi-dwarf angustifolia which reaches 1 1/2 to 2 feet. Hidcote's flower
spikes are an especially captivating deep violet blue, and its fragrance is
more richly fruity than the other spicy-sweet angustifolias.
Recently, several of the lavender intermedias, or Lavandins, which are
interspecific hybrids between L. angustifolia and latifolia, have become
available in the U.S.
These strong vigorous plants reach 3 feet tall with exceptional canopies of
bloom. These lavenders are currently the plants of choice for French perfume
makers and have very intense complex fragrance that is great in the kitchen.
Look for the Lavandins "Provence",
"Grosso" and "Seal".
Although French Dentata and Spanish Stoechas Lavenders are lovely
garden plants, their flowers are too strong and bitter with camphor-pine
overtones to be used in cooking.
All lavenders will thrive in very well drained soil in a location with
full sun and good air circulation. They have few pest and disease problems if
these basic requirements are fulfilled. This makes their flowers good kitchen
candidates as it is critically important never to cook with flowers that have been
treated with chemical pesticides of any kind.
Cooking with Lavender
Lavender flowers can be used either fresh or dried. They work to best advantage
used to flavor the sugar or milk in baked goods.
Add a half dozen flower spikes to several cups of granulated sugar and seal for
a week to make delicious lavender sugar to sweeten hot or iced green or black
tea.
Add a subtle lavender essence to custard filled fresh fruit tart by infusing
the warmed milk for the custard with 1/4 cup chopped lavender flowers to each 2
cups of liquid. Steep the mixture for an hour or two, than strain out the
lavender and proceed with the custard filling recipe.
Make a delectable lavender syrup for fresh melon, berries or stone fruits by
combining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup sweet dessert wine and 2
tablespoons of orange juice. Heat the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and
cook for 5 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of chopped lavender flowers and remove
from the heat. Steep for 1 to 2 hours, than strain out the lavender. Pour this
fragrant syrup over freshly cut up fruit and garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped lavender flowers to your favorite
sugar cookie recipe. Our Lavender Shortbread cookies are rich but not too sweet, and
have just a hint of sweet lavender fragrance and flavor.
Steep 4 teaspoons of chopped lavender flowers in a cup of warmed honey with a
tablespoon of lemon or lime juice for an hour. Reheat and strain out lavender.
Drizzle this floral spread onto fresh toast with sweet butter or cream cheese.
Fresh lavender can be substituted in most savory recipes that call for rosemary
- just use twice as much lavender as rosemary. For grilling, use fresh or dried
lavender flowers, stems and leaves instead of fruit wood and add them to the
white-ashed coals the last 15 minutes of grilling lamb, port or salmon steaks.
The aromatic oils of the lavender add a wonderful herbal smoke flavor to the
finished meat or fish.
Chop up fresh or dried lavender and combine with lemon juice and olive oil as a
rub for pork or lamb. Marinate for several hours before grilling for a
delicious rich flavor.
copyright 2010 Renee's Garden Seeds
