The Culinary Uses of Lavender

I was recently introduced to culinary lavender while attending a lavender festival in the mountains of North Carolina. My first reaction was to assume that it was a great way to make your dishes taste like a mouthful of perfume. It turns out this is a versatile and subtle herb that could be welcome in any chef's kitchen. Here are a few culinary uses for lavender that I recommend.

Herbes de Provence

Lavender is an important ingredient in the culinary mixture Herbes de Provence. Although the recipe was not formalized until the 1970's, the regional cuisine of Provence, France has always been characterized by dishes featuring a number of herbs. Other ingredients in Herbes de Provence include basil, thyme, savory and fennel. Like herbs in general, sauteing this mix before adding it the cooking with really bring out the flavors.

Lavender Baked Goods

Many of the traditional uses of culinary lavender are recipes for sweet foods, and it is particularly tasty in sweet baked goods. In fact many lovers of culinary lavender add sugar to their lavender container so that it's ready to go when it is time to bake. Culinary lavender will add a whole new dimension to a recipe, but be sure to use it sparingly. If you are cultivating lavender of your own for culinary use in sweet foods, consider growing the cultivar English lavender. Another classic use for culinary lavender that is on the sweet side is lavender lemonade.

Innovative Culinary Uses

Lavender may have some very traditional uses, but that's no reason not to let yourself get creative. A couple of cool ideas to get you started are lavender egg salad and a savory dry rub for meats and poultry. High Country Gardens recommends using the hard stem of lavender as a kabob skewer. With a little imagination and experimentation, you may soon discover your own signature lavender dish with a secret ingredient that only you will know.

Lavender Honey

If you've ever had a thriving lavender plant, you may have noticed how much bees love to frequent the plant. It turns out that the honey that is made by bees that feed on lavender pollen is considered a serious delicacy in some parts of the world. Producers say that the unique flavors of each cultivar of lavender get transferred directly to the honey.

Sources:

http://www.highcountrygardens.com/library/view/article/342/?utm_source=ezine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=May08

http://cookingresources.suite101.com/article.cfm/cooking_with_lavender

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbes_de_Provence

http://www.lavenderbeefarm.com/