Cooking With Lavender

[Guest guest]

Cooking with Lavender

 

Lavender is an incredibly versatile herb for cooking.

 

In today's upscale restaurants, fresh edible flowers are making a

comeback as enhancements to both the flavor and appearance of food.

 

As a member of the same family as many of our most popular

herbs, it is not surprising that lavender is edible and

that its use in food preparation is also returning.

 

Flowers and leaves can be used fresh, and both buds and stems can be

used dried.

 

Lavender is a member of the mint family and is close to rosemary,

sage, and thyme. It is best used with fennel, oregano, rosemary,

thyme, sage, and savory.

 

English Lavender (l. angustifolia) has the sweetest fragrance of all

the lavenders and is the one most commonly used in cooking.

 

The uses of lavender are limited only by your imagination. Lavender

has a sweet, floral flavor, with lemon and citrus notes.

 

The potency of the lavender flowers increases with drying.

 

In cooking, use 1/3 the quantity of dried flowers to fresh.

 

The key to cooking with lavender is to experiment; start out with

a small amount of flowers, and add more as you go.

 

NOTE: Adding too much lavender to your recipe can be like eating

perfume and will make your dish bitter.

 

Because of the strong flavour of lavender, the secret is that a

little goes a long way.

 

The lavender flowers add a beautiful color to salads.

 

Lavender can also be substituted for rosemary in many bread recipes.

 

The flowers can be put in sugar and sealed tightly for a couple of

weeks then the sugar can be substituted for ordinary sugar for a

cake, buns or custards.

 

Grind the lavender in a herb or coffee grinder or mash it with mortar

and pestle.

 

The spikes and leaves of lavender can be used in most dishes in

place of rosemary in most recipes.

 

Use the spikes or stems for making fruit or shrimp kabobs.

 

Just place your favorite fruit on the stems and grill.

 

Flowers look beautiful and taste good too in a glass of champagne,

with chocolate cake, or as a garnish for sorbets or ice creams.

 

Lavender lends itself to savory dishes also, from hearty stews to

wine-reduced sauces.

 

Diminutive blooms add a mysterious scent to custards, flans or

sorbets.

 

Dried lavender blossoms used in perfumes and potpourris.

 

NOTE: Do not eat flowers from florists, nurseries or

garden centers. In many cases these flowers have

been treated with pesticides not labeled for food crops.

 

Harvesting Fresh Lavender - Harvest flowers as you would fruit,

selecting those that look most perfectly ready, with the fullest

color, and passing over any that seem wilted or less ripe.

 

The fresher the flower, the more flavorful its taste, so pick your

flowers as close as possible to food preparation time.

 

Stem flowers may be put in a glass of water in a cool place until you

are ready to use them.

 

All blooms should be thoroughly rinsed.

 

Immerse them in water to remove any insects or soil.

 

Then lay the flowers gently on paper or cloth towels and dab dry, or

gently spin dry in a salad spinner.

 

If necessary, layer blooms carefully between moist paper towels in

the refrigerator until meal time.

 

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Lavender.htm