From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While folks more sensible than Bob and I were enjoying their air conditioned homes or breezy decks, we were traipsing through fields of lavender doing our part to make the Oregon Lavender Festival a success. Our intent was to tour several operations and find a good local source for culinary lavender. I was easy to spot. Fair skin demands full sun protection on these hot sunny days. I was the gal who looked liked a bee keeper. High temperatures and blazing sun aside, we had a glorious day, met some kindred spirits and even picked up a few recipes that I can share with you today. The recipes are very easy to make and use less lavender than many of the recipes floating in cyberspace. Lavender has a distinctive taste that borders on bitter if too much of it is used. If you like its flavor, you might want to increase the amounts I have suggested in each of the recipes below. The first recipe is for lavender sugar. I've also included recipes for lavender butter and a salad dressing. I use dried flower buds in all these dishes because of the seasonal nature of fresh lavender. If you'd like to dry your own lavender, instructions can be found here. English lavender is the best to use for culinary purposes. Here are the recipes.
Lavender Sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely ground dried lavender buds
Combine lavender and sugar. Store in an airtight container for at least 3 days. Strain before using. Yield: 1 cup.
Lavender Butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon honey
1-1/2 teaspoons dried lavender buds, whole or lightly ground
Combine butter, honey and lavender in a small bowl. Mix well. Shape as desired. Refrigerate until firm. Serve with sweet bread. Yield: 1/2 cup.
Lavender Salad Dressing
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 tablespoons dried lavender buds, ground
Salt and Pepper to taste
Combine oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, honey, lavender, salt and pepper in the jar of an electric blender. Pulse to combine. Transfer to a serving container. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Yield: 1 cup.
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Peach-Lavender Cobbler - Delish
Apricot Clafouti with Lavender and Pecans - Cooking with Corey
Lavender White Chocolate Cookies - Life Lightly Salted
Brandy Tuiles with Lavender Cream - My Easy Kitchen
Bouquet Cupcakes: Lilac and Lavender - The Conscious Kitchen
Raspberry Lavender Lemonade - Kahakai Kitchen
This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday
90 comments :
i adore lavender, it looks like you had a great time, despite the beekeeping ensemble~
Oh Thank you for sharing such wonderful lavender recipe. I have to agree with you that it's not a good idea to add extra lavender to the baking or cooking. Has to be the right amount! I still have a gigantic packet of lavender which was sent to me by Pam @The Gypsy Chef. Hope you're having a wonderful blue Monday with your lavender.
Blessings, Kristy
Your lavender pictures are amazing. I can smell the fragrant flowers. Thanks for the recipes....Christine
I love the scent of lavender...I have bath soap, shower cream, shampoo all in the scent of lavender:P Yet to try it in a recipe though. Probably because it's hard to find here. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Lovely photos! The lavender recipes sound delicious.
My Blue Monday.
so beautiful pics, have a lovely day mary,take care
hmmm i could almost smell it.. your pictures are so alive and beautiful I could picture myself right there...happy blue monday (yeah in a few hours here in the west coast)
What a gorgeous field of lavender! I love the scent of lavender but have never used it in cooking. Thanks for sharing the recipes and lovely photos.
Ooohhhh...beautiful. I love lavender.
So glad you had a great adventure.
Fondly,
Glenda
I have a lavender bush but never used it to cook. May give it a go!
Ohhhhhhh Mary, first let me thank you for your kind words...I am new at this blogging thing.....lavander......I've once saw a field of lavander traveling through Hungary and to this day I can still remember going by field after field of beautiful colors (saw it from a car)...what a wonderful experience you had...brings back memories
I wish that I was there at the Oregon Lavender Festival! I love lavender, I use it a lot, especially the oil for burns, when I am in the kitchen (i get burned a lot!). And for desserts...but I never used it for a salad dressing, thank you for sharing it!
ciao
Alessandra
Butter, sugar and salad dressing with lavender, thats really amazing...awesome work..
I am a fan of lavender in both food and home products. I once made lavender cupcakes that were divine. Your recipes will be going on my list to try.
Beautiful! Lavender fields are certainly gorgeous although I must admit the scent of lavender hurts my nose! Is this common? Your recipes are so romantic!
Ah ha! We both spent our weekend ( and it WAS a hot one! ) at a Lavender Festival. I love lavender and will be trying these recipes.
Awesome lavender field.
Your recipes are all very delicious and original ♥
One of my favourite flowers. Our plants are so full of different insects at the moment including the wonderful humming bird moth that I am loathe to cut any. Great recipes. Have a good day. Diane
Lavender is pretty common here in the hot dry south of australia where I live! But have never considered actually eating it - will look forward to trying this in lavender season in OZ! Cheers, Marionx
Dear Mary, I received my first blog award today, so I am sending it to you and thanking you for the inspiration to start my blog...stop by my blog to collect the award...stilll thinking about the lavander....
It seems that we are on the same wave length Mary. I was just working on my lavender post after interviewing the owner of our local farm. Lavender is at it's peak right now.
This is a lovely post. I love lavender.....smells so soothing, calming and good. At one point everything I used was almost all lavender! Great to know that you can use it as food. Thanks for sharing this beautiful recipe.
How fun it would be to have a lavender festival where you live!!! I love lavender. I will be trying these recipes. I find cooking with it so interesting.
This sounds wonderful ~ I have only used lavender a handfull of time when it come to cooking, so thanks for the inspiration. Love your photos.
oh my, I LOOOVE that first picture!
I'm getting some lavender in the mail soon that I won in a blog giveaway and need ideas for what to do with it. Thanks so much for sharing this! Perfect timing. I can just imagine you in your beekeeper get-up. So cute :P
Hi Mary,
I never realized that lavender could be used in a recipe! Thanks for informing me.
Those pictures are gorgeous!
Happy Blue Monday!
I have made lavender sugar for years and have made some lavender butter as well but never lavender salad dressing -- I must try that and soon.
I love lavender in food -- we know how well it goes in the linen closet -- and especially love pound cake and shortbread with lavender in it.
If anything would be worth going out into the heat for it would be lavender. It is so beautiful. I love to see plentiful amounts of it.
Glad you enjoyed your outing.
Becky K.
This is so funny.....just last night I finished reading Claire Cook's book The Wildwater Walking Club. I didn't realize that lavender festivals are real events!
Gail
What beautiful photos! We have a field of lavender on the North Fork of Island, and it is such a vision each time I see it.
I have never heard of using lavender in food. This is so original. In my garden I have lavender. I will give it a try. Great Idea Mary! Thanks.
I love lavender flowers. I have never actually used them in my cooking, but you have inspired me. I need to track down where I can find some to use. Thank you!
I LOVE lavender. One of my favorite teas is Earl Grey with Lavender.
I definitely want to try ALL of these recipes.
Thank you for sharing.
Blessings,
Patti (Fill My Cup with Beauty)
What beautiful pictures, Mary. Glad you had a nice time at the festival, despite the heat. I really like the idea of the lavender salad dressing!
Your pictures are out of this world gorgeous! And the recipes are creative and wonderful sounding. What a great post!
How beautiful! My boss just made me a fresh lavender sachet, which I just love.
Your pictures are amazing.....I love Lavender. I have a few growing in my garden and with your recipes now I'm going to make something. I love the lavender sugar. Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Love these series of photos, lovely and beautiful! And your recipe sound good.
Fantastic suggestions. I love lavender and I have loads in my garden.
Thanks for the suggestions and recipes!
Love,
Lia.
The flowers are gorgeous
Lavender is a wonderful thing and I thank you for sharing the recipes! It all sounds delicious, especially the dressing. Glad you had a good time at the festival!
I love lavender. It's about the only fragrance that doesn't bother my nose! I will have to try these recipes..
Great pics, sounds like a great day. I have only tasted an icecream with Lavender and the tastes was quite suprising to my taste buds...in a good way!
Love lavender! Thanks for shraing those recipes. I'll have to give it a try.
how interesting! Here in Croatia lavender is quite popular but I was not aware to use it in food. here lavender is mainly used as an aromatic. the only thing I have seen is lavender honey and the lady selling it said it really didn't have lavender rather it was the honey gathered from bees feeding on the lavender.
Lovely.... lavender garden, i have seen like this only in movies.
Just loved all your lavender recipes.
Lovely.... lavender garden, i have seen like this only in movies.
Just loved all your lavender recipes.
The lavender garden is beautiful! I've yet to cook with lavender.
These lavender delicacies sound heavenly.
Oohhhhh fun recipes. Must try at least one soon.
I love, love, love lavender but I have never tried using it in foods. Great post Mary.
That lavender field is gorgeous, Mary! So pleased to see this post as I have some dried lavender and would love to try it in some new recipes!
I think I can smell the flowers through my computer...Ahhh beautiful! That banana mousse you shared in the previous post looks amazing, might have to try it in the near future!
Mary,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for your very sweet comments. You made my day! You have a lovely blog too, what gorgeous photos and wonderful recipes. I've never cooked with lavender before, how interesting. Have a wonderful week!
these photos remind me of Provence! Very "blue"! Thanks for the recipes! Have a great day yourself!
These look great! We are visiting Washington state in Aug and I was reading about lavender is a big deal there, so maybe I will buy some and be able to try these out.
Mary, this is absolutely exquisite! I can't get over it! I think this is one of the prettiest posts I've ever seen, and the lavender foods sound divine!
Happy Blue Monday...
XO,
Sheila :-)
Oh wow this is awesome!!Thanks for sharing! And happy Monday!
Blue snake
What can I say?
That was an enchanting excursion.
Beautiful post and wonderful photos. I love coming here.
Rita
Lavender clicks are fab...Lovely recipe Mary...!
Beautiful post! I love visiting the lavender farm on Maui and tasting all their great lavender food goodies, like their scones. Everything you made looks and sounds wonderful. ;-)
wow! I wanna be on that field. that looks like a paradise.
u may view mine here
That picture reminded me of the lavender growing in France when we were there. Just so beautiful!!
A popular weekend for festivals. A lavender festival must be a treat to the senses. I spent yesterday at Fairchild Tropical Garden's Mango Festival and it was hot, hot, hot. Have a great day.
How wonderful to celebrate lavender with a festival of it's own! I bet it was a terrific and scent-filled day. Loved reading about the lavender recipes you shared.
We have lavender farms up here, but I've never been yet!
Your pictures of the lavender fields are absolutely gorgeous! I recently made lavender sugar too (I used it in a recipe for lavender shortbread)...it's scent is so lovely! I would love to try the butter and dressing!
I really had no idea you could use lavender in any kind of food. Wow. I have eaten candied rose and violet petals...my French teacher brought them from her annual trip to Europe...very interesting and your pictures and beautiful and soothing. Thanks for the information....again, wow.
The lavender field is stunning.
I always said that I'll rinse my eyes looking at the arrays of blue...however, having it in my food...not much of a fan. Although for those who would like to try...it seems like you've built up quite the directory of resources ;o)
BTW...the next time you stop by my place...there is something for you to pick up on my APPRECIATION page.
Have a great evening and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
You know, I haven't done much cooking with lavender, but you're definitely making me want to try it! Beautiful pictures!
Love lavender !! I have some lavender syrup - now to find a recipe to use it in...
Would have loved to see the "beekeeping ensemble"!!
Wow, so interesting this recipes with lavender...I haven't tried anything with lavender yet...but this will soon to be past :-)
Beautiful photos. I adore lavender!
i recently went to the Blanco Lavender Festival and it was awesome, glad you also had a chance to visit...great recipes
sweetlife
Mary
whata wonderful pics.. and the lavender sugar butter and salad dressing recipes really nice. thanks for sharing mary
Wow, this really works for me. I have a bunch of lavender buds and only use them when I make lavender cookies (recipe at my blog). This puts a whole new perspective on them, thank you so much for sharing, will defo try the butter, yums!
Hello Mary, your trip to the lavender fields sounds awesome. I have never used lavender for making food, but I adore it for spraying lavender water on my pillow cases. Lavender soap etc. A heavenly smell. I have always wanted to visit lavender fields. One day. I am not sure I will eat it. smile.
Hugs, Jeanne
We're in Lavender Country here, too, and there are lots of wonderful sources. Another one of your recipes I'll have to bookmark!
Hi Mary---I really like these lavender recipes, especially the dressing, and you are right--English Lavender is better for culinary. Breathtaking color in those photos.
I love going to festivals during the summertime...I don't think I've ever heard of a lavendar one though--sounds neat!
One of my first edible lavender encounters was from a place called Burdick's Chocolates...yup, lavender + chocolate = YUM!
Oh, and lavendar lotion is my do-to for bug repellent :)
Beautiful photographs and thanks for sharing some wonderful recipes with lavender!
I love lavender the smell is awesome!..I use it as a linen spray. Helps me relax! Have a great week!
I've always wanted to try a lavender recipe! There's some in my Herbes de Provence mix of course but that's not the same as making your own. :)
I bought some culinary lavender about a month ago. Made lavender brownies. Yum. The dressing sounds interesting. I'll have to give that a try.
I've just baked with lavender for the first time a short while ago - scones and ice cream. I'm happy to add your recipes to my "must bake" list.
Lavender is one of my favorites! These recipes are keepers, for sure.
OH MY GOSH!!! I was in Oregon that weekend but attending the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show! And Sunday DD and I were in Ashland at the OSF seeing Twelfth Night... it was fabulous, btw.
I am just catching up with everyone. ~Karen
You recipes look so delicious. I am going to have to break out my apron and culinary Lavender and do some cooking.
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