Can I use lavender from my garden for cooking?

sallymander

Good morning all,

Just a quick question that I hope someone will know the answer to....

I want to make lavender Shortbread as a present for Xmas, but the recipe advises me to by lavender from a specialist online supplier .

I have loads of lavender in my garden (Hidcote i think?) that I have saved and dried.

In the spirit of a thrifty xmas can I just use the lavender I already have? If so do i need to do anything to it?

any suggestions and advice greatfully received and thanks for reading

Sally xx

Kyrae

I made lavender biscuits once and used dried lavender and they were horrible, tasted like potpouri and I felt ill for quite a while afterwards!! Guessing the lavender I bought from the health food shop was for decoration rather than eating and possibly had something added to it, my own silly fault for not checking first! So I'd say that using lavender from your own garden is probably the safest option of all, and to avoid shop bought lavender unless you're absolutely sure it's safe for eating!!

SailorSam

There are all sorts of flowers you can eat, make sure they haven't been sprayed with anything nasty though.

Edible Flowers, How to choose Edible Flowers, Eatable Flowers, Edible Flower Chart, List of Edible Flowers, Incredible Edible Flowers

sallymander

Thank you so much guys thats just answered my question. SAILORSAM I had a look at that website and it gave me more ideas for xmas - thanks

officeguru

sallymander wrote: »

Good morning all,

Just a quick question that I hope someone will know the answer to....

I want to make lavender Shortbread as a present for Xmas, but the recipe advises me to by lavender from a specialist online supplier .

I have loads of lavender in my garden (Hidcote i think?) that I have saved and dried.

In the spirit of a thrifty xmas can I just use the lavender I already have? If so do i need to do anything to it?

any suggestions and advice greatfully received and thanks for reading

Sally xx

I've used Lavender lots of times... mostly on Lamb and also on some breads and I used my own. What I would suggest is to make maybe a small sample and a little of your lavender and see what it tastes like... It's worth doing that as lavender is really strong.

I hope this helps

Cheers

PS I used fresh lavender out of the garden, you should have some still as it is quite mild for this time of the year and I have been getting some new growth on one of the plants.

foxgloves

I use my own lavender flowers in teas, also to make lavender buns. It's an acquired taste, but one I like. The only things to be aware of are not using flowers which have been sprayed or treated with anything chemical, & to give the bunch of lavender a good few shakes to get rid of any tiny insects. Other than that, it isn't likely to be any different from the flowers sold commercially as 'cooking lavender'.

alice23

mmm lavender shortbread, what a lovely present that will be.
Lavender posset is delicious too. I agree with op though, just a teeny hint of lavender is enough.