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. Taken in part from Renees Garden *White Owl
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:00:31 +0000
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