Purple Prose: The Joys of Lavender!

BY LINDA GARSON

What comes to mind when you think of lavender? A romantic vision of strolling through the lavender fields of Provence, Van Gogh’s lavender field paintings or Jackson Pollock’s Lavender Mist? Or maybe the scent reminds you of your grandma and her perfume?

Originating in the Mediterranean and Middle East, lavender has been used for well over two thousand years for medicinal purposes, and for its cleansing and calming properties, and perfume. It was even found, still fragrant, in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The name itself comes from the Latin “lavare” - to wash, as it was so widely used for bathing, and even now, it’s still commonly used as a sleep aid.

But aside from its uses as an essential oil, what about its culinary uses?

A visit for the lavender harvest last summer at the beautiful Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm on Washington Island, Wisconsin, sharpened our focus and gave us a new respect for this herb, and started us thinking what we can do with it here in Canada.

It can - and does - grow in Alberta (ask Veronica and Glen at Alberta Lavender farm in Red Deer County!) with a lot of sunlight and well-drained soil, but not all lavenders are edible and safe to use in food and drink. We really want to look for English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), which has a lot less oil than the aromatic lavenders, and we can use the dried buds and flowers in everything from our desserts and baking to dressings and gravies, roasting meat and potatoes, and in our cocktails! Lavender belongs to the same botanical family as rosemary and can be used wherever you use it, but like rosemary – remember less is more!

It's relatively easy to find dried lavender flowers in specialty stores such as Silk Road Spice Merchant, Calgary’s The Botanist (thebotanistcalgary.com) and The Apothecary (the-apothecary. ca), Edmonton’s Duchess Bake Shop (duchessbakeshop.com) and even at Bulk Barn and some supermarkets.

In baking, lavender loves dairy so you can add it to your ice creams, buttercream frosting, and custards and creamy desserts, such as lavender crème brulée. Don’t steep it for too long though - half to threequarters of an hour will give you enough flavour to use in your dishes without overpowering the other ingredients.

Big Fish Open Range have had a very popular Lemon Lavender Shortbread Tart on their dessert menu for 21 years (there’d be an outcry if it was taken off!), and we’re grateful to them for generously sharing their recipe for this iconic tart.

Big Fish Open Range’s

Lemon Lavender Tart

Serves 8

Crust

1 cup flour

½ cup icing sugar

1/3 cup corn starch

1/3 lemon, zest only

¾ cup salted butter, room temperature

1 tsp dried lavender

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

Butter and line a 25 cm springform pan. Mix all ingredients in a mixer with a paddle attachment, and press evenly into pan. Bake at 350º F for 10 minutes then rotate and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Filling

6 eggs

1¼ cups sugar

1/3 cup flour

¾ tsp fine sea salt

½ tsp lavender

¾ cup lemon juice

Mix well in a mixer with whisk attachment or by hand, and put into the baked tart crust. Bake at 275º F for 30 minutes, then rotate and bake a further 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Garnish with your choice of toppings.

Note: when it jiggles slightly, it is done!

And here’s a recipe for a delicious, allpurpose Lavender Buttercream Icing that you can use on your cupcakes, and other baked goods!

Lavender Buttercream Icing

Makes 1½ cups (375 mL)

¼ cup (60 mL) milk

½ Tbs dried lavender

6 Tbs (90 mL) unsalted butter

2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

1 tsp lemon zest, optional

1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice, optional

Heat the milk just to steaming and add the lavender. Let it steep until the milk drops to room temperature, and then strain. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until softened and add icing sugar, your lavender milk, vanilla and salt. Beat until smooth, and for an added zing, add lemon zest and juice. Keep covered until ready to use.

Note: the icing won’t be a purple colour, so add a few drops of food colouring if you want it to look like lavender.

Lavender works really well in drinks too and can be found in cafés across the province in lavender lattes and tea lattes as well as in lemonade and cocktails.

Thanks very much to Calgary’s Ollia Macarons & Tea, who make a wonderful lavender lemonade, and have kindly shared their recipe with us here.

Lavender Lemonade

To start, Ollia make a concentrated organic lavender syrup (remember a little goes a long way!). Because it's so concentrated you can really get the lavender flavour without adding too much sweetness. They use an organic lavender - the same as in their Lavender Honey macarons and in their tea blends.

Syrup

Makes 2 cups (500 mL)

1 cup culinary lavender

2 cups sugar

1½ cups (375 mL) water

Combine everything in a pan and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce to simmer for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. Store in the fridge overnight (or 12 hours) to allow the flavour to infuse even more. Once ready, strain out the lavender and store in a jar or bottle. Can be kept in the fridge for up to one month.

Lemonade

Makes just over 4 cups (1 L)

1 cup lemon juice

3 cups water

½-1 cup lavender syrup

Start with less syrup and add more to your taste. If you don't feel like making lemonade from scratch, just add 1 Tbs (15 mL) of the concentrated lavender syrup to 1 cup (250 mL) of pre-made lemonade and serve over ice.

And Ollia have suggestions for other uses for the syrup:

- brush it on to cakes before icing

For a ready-made lavender cocktail, check out Burwood Distillery’s Lavender Bees Knees. Their take on this classic prohibition era cocktail is a blend of gin with lemon and lavender. Just pour over ice for a sweet-sour, refreshing lavender drink!

CSPC 889687

375 mL $26-28

- whip into buttercream or whipped cream - as a sweetener for tea - in mocktails and Italian soda (over ice, add 1 oz lemon juice, ½ oz syrup, and top with sparkling water...rim the cup with their lavender sugar if you're feeling fancy!)

You can also find lavender cocktails in bars and restaurants around the province and while the Rhubarb Lavender Cocktail isn’t on the menu currently at NOtaBLE (maybe if we ask nicely they’ll bring it back!), we owe our thanks to mixologist Timo Salimaki for letting us have their recipe to make at home!

Notable’s Lavender Rhubarb Cocktail

1½ oz vodka of your choice

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1 oz lavender rhubarb syrup (see below)

Lemon wheel for garnish

Sprig of mint for garnish

Add ice to a tall glass, then add all the ingredients to build your drink in the glass over the ice.

Lavender Rhubarb syrup

1½ oz sugar

1 cup (250 mL) water

2 cups (500 mL) frozen or fresh rhubarb pieces, cut into smaller chunks

1 tsp of dried lavender

Bring sugar and water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Add the rhubarb and simmer for 10 minutes. Take off heat and add lavender. Let steep for 30 minutes, and strain into a glass bottle or jar.