Culinary opportunities abound for the use of lavender-family buds. You just need to be attentive to the starting quality of your buds, and remember a few basics about how to incorporate them into your kitchen creations. What follows is a general overview about how buds are frequently used. (1) Incorporate whole buds into your recipe. This approach will require you to think ahead about the end-effect of bud color in relation to your visual expectations. There can be a little “chewiness” to buds that may or may not be acceptable. Whole buds will generally impart a gentle lavender effect that may not incorporate uniformly through portions of your final product. Common examples include, cookies, cakes, shortbread, scones, etc. Bear in mind that heating speeds up the release of lavender’s fragrance molecules, so prolonged cooking or baking times may have an adverse effect on preservation of the most desirable volatile compounds. Buds can easily be added to whole spice mixtures, such as the ubiquitous herbes de Provence. Gradual adsorption of lavender fragrance molecules to culinary staples is another way of corralling lavender flavor, the classic example being lavender sugar.
(3) Used extracted buds in your recipe. Here the goal is to mobilize the scent molecules from the oil glands of the buds, and then apply an extract in your recipe. Examples include preparation of infusions into cooking oils or butter (e.g. salad dressing, marinades, compound butters, etc), herbal extracts into vinegars, heated infusion into sugar-based syrups, and alcoholic extracts (such as vodka or gin) for use in cocktails, or in the production of bitters and concentrated “lavender extracts”. Hot water steeping, otherwise known as making tea, works well, especially in combination with other herbs and tea leaves.
(2) Incorporate ground buds into your recipe. Well-dried lavender buds can are easily be ground to a fine powdery texture, releasing a lot of fragrance. A small coffee or spice grinder tends to work well. The resulting powder will provide much greater immediacy of lavender fragrance, and it is probably best used in unheated recipes or culinary products requiring very short heating times. Ground bud is obviously easier to distribute in a recipe, but it is powerful, so you will have to be careful with dosing.
Some general advice about using lavender buds in culinary applications: The final lavender scent should be gentle, enough to be just-noticeable by the taster. A heavy hand with lavender fragrance risks pungency and making foods or beverages seem “soapy”. You should give some attention to the relative potency of the buds you intend to use — some bud preparations can be quite powerful, and others almost impotent. Furthermore, the individual fragrance profile of your buds may make them more suitable for sweet versus savory applications, sometimes both. Experiment, but be careful and add gradually. When in doubt, especially if you have overwhelmed your nose with lavender scent, ask a friendly person to smell and sample your creation.
Contributed by
Michael Lemmers
RavenCroft
Edited & formatted by
Michael Lemmers
RavenCroft
