Health meets flavor

Stop to smell (and taste!) the lavender

Health is on everyone’s mind and it’s reflected in our flavor choices. The flavor forecast for 2024 is bold, adventurous and conscious. According to Newsweek, lavender is the food trend of 2024 because of its floral taste and relaxing benefits.

First-time visitors to a lavender farm frequently exclaim, “I thought it was just a purple bush!” Even enthusiasts are amazed to find out how many varieties exist. Currently, there are over 45 different species with over 450 varieties with more lavender species/varieties yet to be classified.

Lavender from the Angustifolia family is “true lavender,” with good flavor and good for cooking, but the intermedia family produces bitter and overly pungent (camphor) buds. If we were to compare the two:

Lavandula Angustifolia (English Lavender, Culinary Lavender)

• Known for its calming and relaxing properties.

• Effective in alleviating stress, anxiety and promoting restful sleep.

• Commonly employed in aromatherapy practices seeking a tranquil ambiance.

Lavandin, Grosso

• Exhibits robust antimicrobial and expectorant properties.

• Energizing and invigorating, making it suitable for respiratory issues.

A good rule when choosing the right lavender is to taste the bud. If it tastes good to you, it will taste good in your recipe. When you learn how to cook with lavender properly, it can bring a beautiful floral quality to a number of sweet and savory dishes but the key to keeping your food from tasting like your mom’s favorite hand lotion? Culinary lavender and restraint.

The sweet scent of lavender makes it a natural addition to dessert and cocktail recipes, but lavender is also suited to balancing flavor in savory dishes:

• Add chopped flowers to butter or sugar to infuse a sweet lavender flavor through a baked dessert, such as shortbread or sugar cookies. Use 1 tablespoon of chopped blooms to one stick of softened butter. To create lavender sugar, 1 tablespoon dried lavender bud to 1 cup of sugar — 1-2 pulse, store in an airtight container for a week. Use this sugar to sweeten beverages or cookies.

• Use as a stand-in for fresh rosemary in most recipes. Use lavender leaves, stems and flowers in marinades and meat rubs, or toss whole lavender stems on the grill to infuse meat with a complex, herbal smoke flavor. To create a lavender dry rub, 4 tbsp dark brown sugar; 4 tbsp smoked paprika; 2 tbsp coarse salt; 1 tbsp ground black pepper; 1 tbsp culinary lavender, pulsed/crushed; 2 tsp garlic powder; 2 tsp onion powder; 1 tsp cumin; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp cayenne pepper.

• Make a brown butter sauce where the lavender is briefly fried in the fat to tame the edginess that some people find cloying. Then use that sauce over roasted veggies like sweet potatoes or fennel.

Lavender can be bitter for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, the lavender itself can be bitter. Other times, the cooking process may be too hot, causing the ingredient to be bitter. Finally, adding too much lavender can also make a dish or beverage bitter (and soapy).

Consuming essential oils is controversial partly because of their concentrated and powerful effects. Essential oil experts tend to advise against the internal use of essential oils. Essential oils are extracted from plants — either the seeds, roots, leaves, bark, fruit or flowers. Distillation or steaming allows the water-based compounds of the plant to evaporate away, leaving the concentrated oils, also known as essential oils. I generally advise against using culinary essential oils unless you have proper training or experience. When heated, the viscosity of oils can change, and what you thought was one drop may actually be equivalent to two or three. Even small amounts of essential oils can be poisonous if ingested. Therefore, if you plan to use essential oils in a dish, it’s important to remove the dish from heat first. If the dish is boiling, wait for five minutes or so for the boiling stage to subside before adding the essential oils.

Lavender pairs well with rich and fatty foods because it cuts through and lifts the overall flavor. On the sweet side, lavender pairs well with many fruits, tart berries, vanilla, chocolate, citrus, ginger and pecan and almond flavors. Lavender has a particular affinity for dairy, which means that adding it to ice cream, custards, hot chocolate, shortbread cookies or butter-rich frostings is always a good idea. For savory dishes, lightly toast your lavender in a skillet over medium heat to remove the perfume notes from the lavender, but don’t worry as this does not remove any of

the flavor. Lavender can be used in marinades or rubs for chicken, lamb and pork. Add to a savory sauce such as hollandaise or bechamel for a subtle floral note.

Spilling the (lavender) tea

1 cup lavender balsamic vinegar + 20 minutes stovetop simmer = lavender balsamic glaze/reduction

Herbes de Provence

7 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

7 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 tablespoons dried savory

2 tablespoons dried, crushed lavender

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.

Lavender Blueberry Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup blueberries

1 1/2 teaspoons culinary lavender buds

Combine the first three ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add dried lavender and keep on low heat for 10 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the blueberries to get all the juice. This makes the syrup a beautiful purple color. Store in a glass jar in the fridge. It will last for a few months if kept refrigerated.

The Herbie

1 pint of fresh blueberries, muddled (squished)

1 cup basil, chopped

1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/2 — 3/4 cup lavender simple syrup

1 1/2 cups soda water

In a medium-sized pitcher, muddle the blueberries, basil and lemon juice. Add in about 2 cups of ice, your simple syrup and the soda water. Stir and enjoy.

Dawn McCormick owns McCormick Farmz, a Michigan lavender farm that produces finished culinary lavender products with a delightful blend of subtle floral notes and a slight sweetness. Learn more about the farm at McCormickFarmz.com.