Ingredient: Lavender

Lavender oils, lavender candles, lavender body splash, lavender this and lavender that! Lavender seems to be everywhere these days! Honestly I just can't stand it! I once got a massage with lavender oil and it was horrible, oh the smell. I gag as I walk by lavender candles in Triple B (Bed, Bath and Beyond).

All that aside I do think lavender is good for the purpose of cooking!

You: What?? Did you say cook with a FLOWER?

Me: Oh yes indeed I did!

You: You are crazy man! I'm outta here!

But seriously I have made some pretty awesome and dare I even say romantic dishes with lavender as a central theme.

I wanted to talk about lavender because I don't feel that many people understand how easy it is when you step out of the standard spice rack to make something elegant and fun. That is kind of my goal with this ingredient post. To talk about an uncommon ingredient or a common ingredient used in an uncommon way. I want this to help you break the mold and try something different.

My first cooking experience with lavender was a couple years back. I remember walking through my local giant mart and meandering into the spice area. So many daunting choices, I think this is why people just go and buy those prearranged spice kits. As I was standing there lavender caught my eye and I thought "There must be something awesome to make with this!" So I spent the semi outrageous price (I buy it online now for refills) and went home to investigate.

I found when I started digging that there are thousands of lavender recipes! With fish, chicken, rice, candies and on and on! With so many options and plenty of the ingredient on hand (a little goes a long way) I dove into it. Of all the things I've done and have seen to do with lavender I posted my favorite below. It's so simple and to add just a pinch will take any dish from routine to elegant with no real effort. I hope this makes you think about lavender in a different way and I challenge you to at least try my fun little experiment below. You never know with this on hand you may try something more amazing later on! Enjoy!

Lavender kissed sugar:

(Software)

1 cup sugar in the raw (or other raw sugar, I would only use raw large crystals this is meant to be a finishing sugar)

2 tbsp. of culinary lavender

(Hardware)

1 glass jar for storage

1 piece of cheesecloth 4x4in

1 piece of string

First take your cheesecloth and lay it on a flat surface

Then take your lavender and place it in the middle

Bring the corners of the cheesecloth up to make a pouch or purse

Tie the string around the top and leave a length of string about 3in

Pour a small amount of sugar in the glass jar about 1/2in deep

Place the lavender pouch in the jar

Finally fill the jar with the remaining sugar making sure to keep that length of string from being buried. You'll use that to extract the pouch later

Shake it once daily and after two weeks take out the pouch, and you will have wonderfully tasting lavender kissed sugar. Perfect for sprinkling on pancakes, cookies, add to coffee or tea, the possibilities are really endless!