It’s the most wonderful time of the year….the Lavender Fairy visits Lavender Hill
Tag: culinary lavender
Are you looking for Lavandula angustifolia? Culinary Lavender?
Are you looking for Lavandula angustifolia (culinary lavender; lavender for cooking) because you saw one of the Lavender recipes in the LCBO Food & Drink Magazine?
At last weeks Flesherton & District Farmers’ Market, several people made a beeline to Lavender Hill Hippie looking to buy “lavender for cooking”. I asked each of them what they were making and all had seen lavender recipes in the summer 2016 Edition of Food & Drink magazine that they were eager to try.
I had to find a myself a copy of the magazine and it’s FABULOUS! On the cover Blueberry-Lavender White Chocolate Cheesecake. By far this was the recipe my customers were planning to make using my Culinary Lavender purchased at the Market.
Here is a peek inside the Magazine:
I want to try the lavender chocolate sorbet recipe found inside the Food & Drink Magazine. My sister wants to try the Lavender Lemon Curd Tarts. There is also a recipe for Lavender-Raspberry Mojito.
Purchase Culinary Lavender from the Rustic Lavender Boutique
Here’s another tip from the Magazine article “Sweet on Lavender” by Julia Aitken, Photography by Rob Fiocca
“…if buying lavender from a farm, ask if it’s suitable for cooking. To find a farm near you that sells culinary lavender, visit ontariolavenderassociation.org.”
I’m off to my kitchen now to prep for the Lavender Chocolate Sorbet.
Culinary Lavender
I haven’t blogged much about Lavender since the summer’s harvest…
After the 2015 harvest and after the lavender was completely dry in the drying room, I took each bundle and separated it by variety and usage. The separated bundles went into winter storage.
Now it’s time to begin to strip the lavender buds from the stem. This is all done by hand one bundle at a time…a labour of love as its very labour intensive.
Today I’m cleaning and grading culinary lavender from my true English Lavender varieties.
As I strip the lavender buds from each bundle I do this over a “Riddle”. This allows the buds to fall through and into a waiting bucket while sorting out some of the larger stems held back on the screen.
This may need to be done several times to catch as many stems as possible.
Next taking small amounts (2-3 cups) of the roughly graded culinary lavender I run it through an even finer mesh. While the riddle sifted out the largest particles from the lavender buds, this step sifts out the finest particles from the lavender. And I’m left with culinary lavender that looks like this:
Yes but still not good enough for the Lavender Hill Hippie! So I move up to a larger mesh strainer (smaller than the Riddle but larger than the first mesh strainer)…a size that allows the buds to fall through while holding back a little more of the bits of stems and leaves. Only after this stage is the Lavender Hill Hippie satisfied that its ready for market and when it looks like as it does in the photo below with very few to no stems and leaves.
I should mention that there is nothing wrong with some stems and leaves mixed in with lavender buds. All are edible. I just like to present the best product possible. There will be some bits of stem and leaves in Lavender Hill Hippie Culinary Lavender however following the above process the majority is removed prior to packaging for market.
AS EASY AS ONE ~ TWO ~ THREE
Purchase Culinary Lavender from the Rustic Lavender Boutique:
The Lavender is cut ~ now what?
I cut the first lavender bundle of the 2015 season on July 15th and the last on July 27th. Now what? Time to relax? Put my feet up? Reap the rewards?!….not quite!
The winter was hard on the lavender as was that bizarre killing May frost. At the time I estimated that I had lost about 5% of my lavender plants over the winter and anticipated some further damage/loss after the May frost. After counting the bundles in the 2015 harvest at 352 this indicates a loss closer to 15% over the 2014 harvest!
The drying room isn’t as full as last year however the calyxes and whorls on some of the spikes seem normal size on the Lavandula x-intermedia:
The peduncles on these two specimens are also a good length however these are the exception. Not all the Lavandula x-intermedia peduncles were this long.
At this point I don’t know how great that 15% loss in production will affect my overall Lavender business going forward. I will be in a better position to evaluate this once the lavender completes its drying period and after the buds are removed from the peduncles.
After that the calyxes will be cleaned. They will go through a Riddle (as seen in the photo below). I will sift out the impurities (by hand) and after that I’ll be able to get a weight on the final 2015 lavender harvest to compare.
By the way my Lavandula Angustifolia, that I use in my Culinary Lavender product, is screened twice or more of impurities through the Riddle. My Riddle is equipped with 3 screens of varying sizes. Screening using the Riddle is very labour-intensive hands-on dusty work however screening makes for a better product in my opinion.
How to make Lavender Tea
The dream of a cup of lavender tea slowly emerges from the gardens of Lavender Hill early each spring however it cannot be savoured until long-after the August harvest.
Lavender Tea available while supplies last in the Rustic Lavender Boutique
Last Lavender bundle
That’s it! I’m done. The last lavender bundle #424 was cut and hung in the drying room today, Monday August 11th 2014, at I forget exactly what time….whew!
Now the hard part begins selling it all!
I sell dried All Natural Lavender and Culinary Lavender online at my Lavender Hill Hippie ETSY shop and at local markets.
The Lavender Harvest has begun…
Lavender in the Garden
Lavender Hill is aptly named for its near 180 lavender plants.
Although July is harvest-time, throughout the year – even in winter before the snow covers the plants – you can catch the scent of lavender on the breeze – it is heavenly!
Freshly cut Lavender is bundled and hung upside down and left to dry…then I harvest the dried flowers for use in Lavender Products
The aroma from these lavender buds is heavenly!
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