Yesterday we realized that we had given you three whole recipes with lavender recently, and that this reflects our current inclination to throw lavender into dessert left and right. This craze for lavender will probably taper off soon, but there are good reasons to reach for it in the late spring and summer, when fresh berries are at their peak. Here are some tips for cooking with lavender, and links to all our lavender recipes.
Why cook with lavender? Used in moderation, lavender's gently herbal flavor brings out the sweetness and freshness of rhubarb, strawberries, cream, honey, and other summertime dessert staples. If used too heavily, lavender can impart an unpleasant bitterness, so be careful. We made our Lavender Blueberry Custard pie several times to work out just the right amount of lavender for our taste.
Try adding just a half teaspoon of dried lavender to your next fruit crumble or steeping a little bit with your next batch of ice cream.
Tips
• We usually cook with dried lavender - not fresh. You can find the dried buds in packets in Asian markets.
• Steeping: Most recipes with lavender call for steeping in cream. It doesn't take long to steep warm cream or milk with lavender; just a few minutes will give you a delicate herbal flavor.
• Baking with lavender: The same principles apply when you're adding lavender as an ingredient, as opposed to steeping it for flavor. Use a light hand. We add just a sprinkling of lavender buds to our rhubarb crumble, and it was plenty to give it a delicate flavor. We were amazed by how much it brought out the rhubarb's intensely fruity taste.
Recipes
• Blueberry Lavender Cream Pie
• Honey Lavender Panna Cotta
• Rhubarb Lavender Crumble
• Lavender Lemonade
Are there any recipes you like to use lavender in? What are they?
Related: Green Acres Farm: Lavender Isn't Just For Potpourri
(Images: Lavender, top left: Lavender by Flickr member Nefi licensed for use under Creative Commons; Faith Hopler)
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I have fresh lavender growing in my herb garden. It doesn't have any flowers so far. In fact, it looks very similar to rosemary. Can I cook with this or do I need to purchase dried flowers?
@LDB,
You can most definitely cook with the herb itself.
You can chop it just like you would rosemary for instance.
It would be good to use in a sauce for poultry and game.
It can also be used in a glaze for something like poultry.
Any suggestions on how to best incorporate lavender into my strawberry jam? I was thinking just toss some in or maybe go with a mesh bag of it and pull it out later.
I just made the pie today, it came out perfect! I used dried lavender from my garden, fresh organic blueberries instead of frozen (they are in season right now, about to go out of season so grab some quick!) and vanilla bean scrapings instead of extract. yummy....
http://flickr.com/photos/tomahto33/
photos here.
I am a huge proponent of making Lavender Jelly in the Summertime. It is sooooo good with toast or ice cream!
maybe i'll try one of these - i've never had anything made with lavender that didn't taste like some kind of cosmetic! ick. it reminds me of bergamot in earl grey, which i also dislike - like my tea has been spritzed with perfume. not something i want in my mouth. but these do look pretty appetizing...
How about pairing lavender with chocolate, maybe baking it into a chocolate torte or cupcakes - anyone have any ideas?
If you find that your lavender taste like soap...it's because you didn't use the correct type of lavender. Just because you have a bush growing in your yard, does not mean that it is the edible type. Yep, there are over 100 different varities of lavender and a lot of them I would never want to eat. Take a bath in maybe, but not eat. You have to make sure what you are buying is a culinary lavender. It must be an Angustifolia (ENGLISH) You can buy from thousands of USA farmers who grow lavender. So, don't be put off by a "soap" flavor, try it again with the right stuff, you may be surprized. Try annieslavender.com
Also, a new way to cook with lavender without the fuss of an infusion is to use a lavender extract. Use like vanilla in all your fav recipes. we sell it at annieslavender.com. I use it in my cookie, cake, custard and other sweet desert recipes. For savory, use Herb de Provence....makes excellent roasted chicken, pork or use on potatoes.