Lavender

Hey all you creative souls out there. Does anyone have any good ideas for using edible lavender flowers other than in salads and as a garnish? I have one recipe from Raw Food Real World that is for a Lavender Ice Cream but I would love some cookies and other desserts. Stuff that I know will taste great. I don’t have time to experiment!! I’m having guests!!!

Thanks

I used to make lavender shortbread that was so lovely, I’m sure you could add it to some raw cookie dough.

Anything chocolate. Lavender and chocolate are good together.

Lavender lemonade.

If you make sun tea it would be great in that.

I can’t think mainly because I like lavender in EVERYTHING.

I had SAD lavendar lemonade the other day. Yes, it had bad stuff in it, but it tasted divine. I think it could be adapted for raw. For instance, the recipe used to make the lemonade was similar to the SAD recipe below. Instead of boiling the lavendar, maybe they could be slowly infused in the sun and you could use agave nectar instead of sugar. I bet it would be fabulous. I’m going to buy a lavendar plant just so I can try it.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups boiling water
1 cup lavender flowers
2 cups cold water
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS
Place the lavender in a pitcher; pour the boiling water over the lavender; cover with plastic wrap and allow to steep 10 minutes; strain and discard the lavender from the water and return the water to the pitcher. Add the cold water, lemon juice, and sugar to the pitcher and stir until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate until serving.

Yeah, I’ve been wondering that too, since I have a lavender plant growing in the backyard. And peppermint too. I wonder if I could make some tea with it, or cookies, or raw breads or snack bars :D

make a tea and add it to your bath water? i love tea baths.

oh, and to modify that recipe of RawVoice’s: better yet, you could juice the lemons and some apples. that would be plenty of sugar. and if you place lavender is a small blender with a little bit of water, blend and pass it through a tea strainer. add water to that concentrate. VOILA! no heat needed! and no time either.

I totally agree with have_mersey about the chocolate now, I’m remembering I also used to make a lavender butter cookie dipped in chocolate. As far as the cookie recipe goes, choose something as mild as possible, with maybe an almond base to it. I’m not a raw cookie expert so I can’t offer you a recipe.

rachel_akiko – mint is amazing in salads. Just toss it in with any greens, also great with grated carrots. They used it a lot when we were in Egypt in the salads and the mint made all the difference. Good to add to raw hot chocolate too.

I totally agree with have_mersey about the chocolate now, I’m remembering I also used to make a lavender butter cookie dipped in chocolate. As far as the cookie recipe goes, choose something as mild as possible, with maybe an almond base to it. I’m not a raw cookie expert so I can’t offer you a recipe.

rachel_akiko – mint is amazing in salads. Just toss it in with any greens, also great with grated carrots. They used it a lot when we were in Egypt in the salads and the mint made all the difference. Good to add to raw hot chocolate too.

I used to make chocolate ice cream with lavender during the summer. Also chocolate cookies, and you could probably do a flax/nut/coconut/whathaveyou cookie and just add in the lavender. I always liked buttercookies or sugar cookies with it. But as I said, I like everything lavender. Which is why I was surprised and thrilled that they have such a generous vibe. My favourite scented plant we have(Three lavender varieties so far! yay!) practically YELLS “Pick me!” everytime I am near it and it doesn’t even have buds on it yet. Although I know you can eat the green leaves and it tastes good too, I want them to get bigger first. I sound strange. Anyway, EVERYTHING is good with lavender. Think of your favourite recipe and just try it with it. I am going to try it in nutmilk. Don’t know how it will taste, but again I repeat I like everything with lavender so I doubt I’d care if it was lavender-plaster.

RAW CASHEW CHEESE WITH LAVENDER

Recipe from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69OgLu7RxOk&NR=1

Raw cashew nuts – about 1 cup, soaked over night w/ soak water

Zest of Lemon – just a little

1-2 Basil leaves

1 T Nutritional yeast

¼ t. or less Sea salt (dash of salt)

1/8 t black pepper (another dash)

Less than ¼ Onion diced finely

½ t Lavender petals (or, to taste)

Pour cup of cashew nuts w/ water into food processor.
Add basil leaf & sea salt, pepper, lemon zest, & nutritional yeast.

Blend to desired smoothness – a little crunchy is okay.

Put mixture into bowl
Add chopped onion & lavender

Let sit on top of fridge for an hour or two and then it’s ready to eat.