Farm Journal  ·  March 21, 2023

Let’s Talk about Culinary Lavender

A full day workshop at the US Lavender Grower Conference left me craving more! There are over 120 varieties of lavender, and more being selectively bred each year. All those lavender varieties looks, smell, and taste, a little differently, too.

Lavendula Angustifolia is the most commonly used culinary lavender family. These varieties tend to have lower camphor content than Lavendula Intermedia. For our Upstate New York climate, Angustifolias and Intermedias are the two types of lavender that grow best as perennials.

With many thanks to my favorite lavender cookbook author (Nancy Baggett), a lavender farm and food styling guru (Nicole Callen of Norwood Farms), and a super talented tea and lavender farmer/blender (Christine Mulder of Old Barn Owl Nursery), we had a hands-on experience with tasting, experimenting, and learning new cooking techniques!

I couldn't wait to get home and into the kitchen to develop some signature blends of our own, using Farmstead 1868 lavender and a whole bunch of insight gained from these three outstanding women in their fields. (And their lavender fields, too).

So with a little help from the FarmKids, (truthfully, it was mostly them while I paid bills in the other room), a Masterpiece was made: Chocolate Lavender Cake with Blueberry Lavender Jam Filling, and a Lemon Lavender Buttercream frosting.

Delicious? NO! It was WAY too much lavender. When it comes to cooking with lavender, a little goes a long way! (Truly, a LITTLE!)

Each lavender recipe on its own was lovely, but when all the pieces were combined it was super sweet and floral with citrus and berry notes that did not combine well.

But the FarmKids had fun, and I got some work done. And as I once heard, "Every failure brings you one trial closer to success." Cooking with lavender may not be the easiest hobby to pick up, but any chance we can experiment and learn-by-doing in the kitchen with children is worth its weight in the Scientific Method.

I'll keep you posted as we keep developing new recipes. But until we find success, check out Nancy's cookbooks. She is an artist with lavender, and I haven't tried one of her recipes that I don't like yet!