Lavender: From Soap to Supper

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Lavender is for bubble bath. Roses are for a vase. Hibiscus is for graphic prints on Hawaiian shirts. Flowers are many things, but not for consumption. Or at least, that is what I used to think.

I have to admit, drinking a rose-infused tea still make me want to gag. And a lavender crème brulee makes me think of licking a bar of soap. But I’m coming around to flowers in food and beverages thanks to the innovation of a few daring producers.

The first time I had the Barely Buzzed Cheese from Beehive Creamery was a revelation. This hard cheese with a taste similar to white cheddar had been rubbed down thoroughly on the rind with a blend of coffee grounds and lavender. I tasted the cheese before I knew what I was having, the coffee a bitter bite at the end of a rich and creamy center with just the barely distinguishable aroma of something floral, the lavender. Whether it was the caffeine in the cheese or the delicious taste, I was hooked from that day forward.

Thanks to Barely Buzzed, I discovered it is not the lavender flavor itself that bothers me, but like many potent ingredients, the way in which the lavender is used. Lavender honey for instance--honey collected from bees that have fed exclusively on lavender flowers--has no lavender added to it but the flavor lingers at the back of the pallet as a suggestion, rather than a sucker punch.

The combination of lavender and honey has become so beloved that ice creams now abound with both flavors. If adding the dried lavender to the mix, dried lavender flowers (in small quantities) infuse the warm milk mixture much the way a vanilla bean would do. The custard is eventually strained and the flowers discarded leaving behind just the essence of floral as a supporting rather than dominating note in a cool dessert.

As seen with the success of the lavender with cheese, these flowers are not limited to the dessert course. The strong flavor of lavender holds up to the gamey taste of meats like lamb chops and pork roasts. As a marinade, dried lavender can infuse meats with a subtler flavor when combined with garlic, olive oil, and some fresh herbs. Where meat pairs well with fruit--think pork and apples or venison and blueberries--lavender can step in to add a floral touch to the fruit compote.

For the most intense taste of the little purple flower, try adding a bit of dried lavender to an herbal dry rub. Think of dried rosemary, thyme, basil, and fennel seed along with a bit of lavender to rub into a pork loin, lamb chops, or a beef rib roast. For longer cooking cuts, the seasoning will have time to deeply infuse the meat. But even with quicker cooking, say the sear of a lamb or pork chop, the lavender and other herbs will form a lovely golden crust. A bite of juicy pork will end up with just the hint of lavender and herb on the edge not unlike the delightfully bitter and floral end note of the rind rubbed cheese.

Flowers are beautiful to look at, lovely to smell, and sometimes even good to eat. A gentle infusion in an ice cream custard, a swirl of lavender honey through yogurt, or even an as part of an herbal crust on a piece of meat all bring new perspective to the flower. Once relegated to the bathroom counter, lavender now finds a place in the kitchen cupboard.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 4 thick cut boneless pork chops
• salt and pepper
• 4 ounces feta
• 2 tablespoons oil cured sun-dried tomatoes cut in thin strips
• 12 Nicoise olives, pitted
• 1 teaspoon dried lavender
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 cup olive oil