The Wise Owl knows about ... Culinary lavender

Have you ever heard someone say, "lavender tastes like soap!" ? There is a very strong chance they were not tasting the right variety of lavender.

I have cooked with lavender buds! I have made simple syrup with lavender buds, used lavender buds on meat while grilling, used buds in cookie recipes, and last week I made lavender jelly.

Lavender Jelly

This batch of lavender jelly was made with 'Royal Velvet' buds. It is a mild smooth sweet lavender taste with no hint of camphor oils. There are several lavender varieties that are considered great for cooking. Some lavender culinary varieties might include Hidcote, Munstead, Sweet Melissa, Elegance, Folgate, and Royal Velvet. These have sweet aromatic floral scents.

When I take people through the rows of lavender at the farm, we stop and smell several different lavender plant varieties. Elegance and Royal Velvet smell sweet and delicate. And then there is Grosso, a variety that carries a very strong camphor smell in its oil. When folks smell this plant they know right away they would not want this lavender on their food. I use Grosso in my insect repellent spray because of the heavy camphor scent.

Lavender is an herb that does add a nice light flavor to food and drinks. Cookies and Lavender Lemonade are two very common uses for this herb. Wonderful lavender lemonade does not taste like soap UNLESS YOU use the Wrong variety! Trust your lavender grower / supplier (the retail shop owner). If the dried lavender buds smell like medicine, don't use it for cooking! AND ... Now YOU KNOW a little about culinary lavender.