| Press Diet & Nutrition, May/June 2008 Few sights rival the royal purple splendor of a field heavy with blooming lavender. Unexpectedly, lavender is as pleasing to the palate as it is to the eye. Fresh and enticing, lavender, after all, is an herb – more specifically a type of Mediterranean mint. And it offers a bonus: It’s been used for centuries to aid digestion. “Lavender provides an aromatic, singular note. There are very few herbs that can offer that kind of spicy fragrance, beautiful color, and unique flavor,” says Robbie Lewis, executive chef of Bacar restaurant in San Francisco. A Taste of Mystery Of course, the problem is that some people expect lavender to taste like their favorite clean-scented soap. Indeed, it can, if you violate two rules of cooking with it: using the wrong kind and using too much. As far as using the wrong kind, plucking just any sort of lavender from the garden may or may not work. “Although all are herbs and are edible, there are some varieties that have a high camphor content, which gives a bitter, medicinal taste,” says Karen Grimaud of Blue Mountain Lavender Farm in Touchet, Washington. “Provence is a French strain of lavender, and it’s good for cooking,” Grimaud says, noting that the name is very romantic and appealing. “Here on our farm, we grow Provence, but we actually prefer to cook with an English lavender called Sachet. It seems like a poorly named variety for use in food, but the flavor is quite good.” With other herbs, you eat the oil-infused leaves, but with lavender, you consume the flowers. Lavender adds a shade of zesty mystery – but take it easy. “Lavender can be a disaster if you are too heavy handed’” says Chef Gayle Pirie, who uses the herb at her internationally acclaimed restaurant, Foreign Cinema, a quintessential San Francisco eatery that combines innovative cuisine with film screenings in an outdoor courtyard. “But in small quantities, lavender has a haunting note, and it’s quite difficult to pinpoint what the flavor is. People don’t say, ‘Oh, that’s lavender.’ They just know there is something unusual there, something that has a warmth and depth.” Flavor of Provence Grimaud has a few simple recipes of her own, but she relies heavily on what she considers the best lavender cookbook ever written – The Lavender Cookbook by the late Sharon Shipley, who advises her readers to incorporate lavender into their everyday cooking. “Start by simply grinding a small amount of flower buds and adding them to your favorite recipes. You’ll give a new dimension to everything from steamed vegetables to cookie dough,” she says. Grimaud also offers visitors a popular spice blend with lavender that she formulated with Jean-Paul, her French-born husband. It’s based on the familiar Herbes de Provence, which often contain lavender. The Grimauds added spices, a dash of salt, and various ground peppers to their savory condiment. “Our Lavender Herb Pepper lends itself to making vinaigrette dressing, and we like to make a marinade for chicken or salmon by mixing it with olive oil, garlic and a little bit of lemon juice. My husband uses the marinade before he grills,” she says. The mix can also add delectable seasoning to pasta, rice, sautéed vegetables, or herbed butter. [...] Miami Herald, March 09, 2008 (This article mentions the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm. Here's the beginning.) LAVENDER FARM Santé for Restaurant Professionals, Volume 11.4, June 2007 Flowers that once adorned the table are now costarring on the plate, not just as fanciful garnishes, but also as essential ingredients in both sweet and savory dishes. Chefs are using lavender, hibiscus, and rose essences to flavor sweet syrups, ice creams, and other desserts, and the petals of these and other flowers – marigolds, pansies, and jasmine, to name just a few – are used to lend their singular and subtle flavors to roast meats, fish, sauces, salads, soups and stews. [...] On the West Coast, Andrew Copley, chef-owner of Copley’s Palm Canyon in Palm Springs, has come to favor lavender, which he grows in his own on-site garden. Although the plant, which is a member of the Mediterranean mint family, produces a lovely purple flower, Copley is much more interested in its pungent flavor, which he ways marries extremely well with mustard. He uses this combination to season meat and seafood dishes. Lavender also mixes well with herbals such as rosemary, oregano, and thyme – as in Copley’s homemade ice cream, subtly flavored with lavender and oregano, which elicits much praise from his guests. “When you cook with lavender, you shouldn’t experience it as a flowery flavor,” says Karen Grimaud, who, with her husband Jean-Paul, owns and operates Blue Mountain Lavender Farm in Touchet, Washington, located in the wine-growing region of the Walla Walla Valley. The Grimauds grow ten different varieties of lavender, including an English lavender they sell for culinary use. “The flavor of lavender should take you by surprise,” she adds. “You may or may not be able to identify it, but it shouldn’t have an overwhelming effect on any dish.” For baked foods and sweetened beverages, Karen suggests making lavender sugar, an old-fashioned and very easy way to incorporate subtle flavor into plain cakes, cookies, lemonades, and teas. Use a ratio of 1 tablespoon dried lavender to every 4 cups of sugar. After about a month, the sugar absorbs the lavender’s essence. Strain the flowers before using the scented sugar as a measure-for-measure substitute for plain granulated sugar. Likewise, to infuse heavy cream with a subtle perfume, Grimaud suggests combining 3 tablespoons fresh lavender (or 1 tablespoon dried) with each cup of cream. Refrigerate the mixture overnight in a covered container, and remember to strain the flowers from the cream before whipping. Dried lavender is most commonly used, she says, as it can be stored year-round and lends itself well to a baked or cooked dish. Fresh lavender, conversely, is wonderful for recipes that are not cooked or baked, such as lemonade or lavender whipped cream. [...] Body & Soul Magazine April 2004 Don’t let lavender’s delicate appearance fool you. The flowering herb hails from a rough background, with roots in rocky soil and hot, sunny climes – no shrinking violet, that’s for sure. More than just a sweet-smelling scent for lotion or hand soap, this passionate-colored Mediterranean mint is considered an age-old cure-all for whatever ails you, from headaches to depression. In a family of purples, lavender is perhaps the most worldly. After all, it’s just as at home in a sock drawer as it is in a cup of tea. Lavender Herb Pepper from Blue Mountain Lavender Farm ($5; 509-529-3276; www.bluemountainlavender.com) Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Sunday, July 13, 2003 It was a sun-soaked afternoon at the farm of Jean-Paul and Karen Grimaud and business was, literally, humming. Throughout a field of aromatic, purple-crowned plants came a constant, low buzz, a noise produced by hundreds of honeybees ambling around one of Walla Walla Valley’s lesser-known crops, lavender. While lavender farms have flourished on the state’s west side, particularly in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, cultivation of the aromatic plant has been slower east of the Cascades. In fact, a recent article by writer Rachel Bard in Western Journey magazine identified only two eastern Washington lavender farms, one near Spokane and the Grimaud’s Blue Mountain Lavender Farm near Touchet. “The irony of this is that we’re city folk,” Karen Grimaud said with a smile as she described how she and Jean-Paul came to be budding lavender barons who are now in the third year of raising what one grower called “the Swiss Army Knife of the herb world.” According to Karen, the couple decided to take up lavender farming after moving to the Walla Walla countryside about three years ago from the area near Provence, a region in south-central France with a climate and soil similar to Walla Walla’s. In France, and particularly in Provence, lavender farming is a serious business, Jean-Paul said. But he and Karen had no grand plans when they planted their first cuttings in 2000, he said. “My initial vision was just to have a big backyard,” Jean-Paul said as he stood amid the approximately 2,700 plants the couple now have under cultivation on about 1 ½ acres of drip-irrigated land. Out of the 50 types of lavender grown in the world, the Grimauds are raising four French and three English varieties. Last year “was our first small harvest,” Karen said, and this year brought a larger yield. Different types of lavender are used for different purposes. Some varieties are priced for their fragrance, others for their decorative value while still others are bred for high oil content which can be distilled into perfumes and lotions. When in season, much of the crop raised at the Blue Mountain farm is sold to flower wholesalers in Seattle for fresh-cut bouquets as well as the local Walla Walla farmer’s market. In addition, the dried herb is sold in packets for use in candles, tonics, tinctures or made into a variety of other products, including aromatic sachets and potpourris and even a custom-made soap. Surprisingly, lavender can also be used as an herb in a number of dishes, including lavender sugar, lemonade, a torte and even whipped cream. Working a lavender farm entails a lot of pruning to keep the plants trimmed into a tight, round shape needed to produce a good spray of blossoms, as well as prolong the plants’ lives. “We trim back half of the greenery in the fall and one-third in the spring,” Jean-Paul said. The work also involves a lot of weeding, as the new growth always “comes back up with the weeds,” he said. Harvest time is mid-June through mid-July, Karen said. “Then, it’s all go, go, go. Anything (else) you’re doing, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I should be cutting lavender,’” she said. Western Journey March/April 2003 Suddenly Washington is bursting with blooms of lavender. Farms are cropping up from San Juan Island to the Spokane area. Why here? Why now? After all, lavender’s been around for 2,500 years. The Romans cherished it for its distinct, delicate aroma and used it in bathing, healing, and calming fevered brows. Pilgrims brought the seductive herb to this country, and it spread westward with settlers. Now it is “one of Washington’s hottest small-farm crops,” says Katherine Baril, head of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service office in Jefferson County. Much credit goes to a few farmers in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, who took up lavender cultivation in 1995 to save farmland from development and to draw tourists. The number of lavender farms has grown to at least 20. And the turnout for Sequim’s Lavender Festival, just a few hundred people the first year, swelled to nearly 25,000 last year. The climate, soil, and growing seasons in much of Washington are comparable to those of lavender’s native land, southern France, where it has reigned benignly for centuries. The crop’s success in Washington has attracted more farmers, retirees, and entrepreneurs. Like many of the best things in life, lavender’s appeal isn’t easily defined but you know it when you experience it. Depending on the variety – and there are dozens – the scent may be bold and assertive or subtle and delicate. In moments of stress, a sniff of a lavender sachet can instantly soothe. The nose knows. So do the other senses. “It’s for smelling, seeing, tasting, touching and hearing,” says Stephen Robins of Pelindaba Lavender Farm on San Juan Island. Hearing? Indeed. Stand in Pelindaba’s lavender fields and listen to the contented buzzing of bees flitting from blossom to blossom. It’s enough to make you want to go in search of some lavender honey. Which brings us to taste, and the astonishing proliferation of lavender’s culinary uses. Besides complementing the flavors of lemonade, sorbet, cookies, and other sweets, lavender is adding spark – and a bit of mystery – to vinaigrettes, marinades and pasta sauces. Often it’s joined by other herbs such as rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Karen Grimaud of Blue Mountain Lavender Farm in Touchet (west of Walla Walla), learned about cooking with the herb while living in France. She describes the desired effect: “The lavender flavor should be almost unidentifiable. Then every few seconds you get a little burst of ‘something’ that makes your palate sit up and pay attention.” Body and spirit can benefit, too, from lavender antiseptics, aromatherapy, spritzers, muscle soothers, eye pillows, and massage oils. No wonder Jadyne Reichner of Sequim’s Purple Haze Lavender Farm, calls it the “Swiss Army Knife of the herb world.” Hit the Lavender Trail Blue Mountain Lavender Farm, Touchet. Gather armfuls of the herb, enjoy a lavender lemonade, and learn how the French cook with lavender. (509) 529-3276; www.bluemountainlavender.com. Rachel Bard is a Vashon Island writer of travel guides, cookbooks, and historical fiction. Her latest novel is Queen Without a Country. |
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