What's Lavender Like in Cooking, and When Is It Soapy?

Cooking with lavender works when the buds come from English lavender and the dose stays small. A quarter teaspoon of dried buds can perfume a cup of warm cream, but a heavy hand or a camphor-rich lavandin makes the same cream taste like a bar of soap.

What is culinary lavender?

Culinary lavender is the dried flower bud of Lavandula angustifolia, a small shrub in the mint family that grows wild around the Mediterranean. Cooks strip the buds from the stems and use them the way they would use any dried herb.

The same plant is sold as English lavender or true lavender, and older books call it Lavandula officinalis.

That older name still matters because the US Food and Drug Administration lists lavender under Lavandula officinalis among the spices and natural seasonings generally recognized as safe for food.

Plant

Lavandula angustifolia, also called English or true lavender

Family

Lamiaceae, the mint family

Native range

The Mediterranean basin

Part used

Dried flower buds

Main aroma compounds

Linalool and linalyl acetate

Relative to watch for

Lavandin, Lavandula x intermedia

A garden center may stock dozens of other lavenders, and most of them are grown for looks or for perfume oil. Only a few taste pleasant, so the species on the label decides whether a jar belongs in the kitchen at all.

What does lavender taste like, and why can it taste like soap?

Good culinary lavender tastes floral and sweet, with a light citrus edge and a trace of rosemary behind it.

The floral side comes mostly from linalool and linalyl acetate. Camphor and 1,8-cineole pull the other way, toward eucalyptus and pine resin.

The balance between those two groups determines whether a bud tastes like a flower or like a medicine cabinet.

Soapiness is mostly a problem of amount. Lavender scents so many soaps and detergents that a strong lavender smell in food reminds people of the laundry before they taste anything else.

A camphor-heavy species makes the problem worse at any dose. A long steep also pulls more aroma into the liquid than a delicate dish can carry.

A dish that already tastes soapy can usually be rescued by dilution rather than by masking.

1. Take the lavender outStrain the liquid or lift out the whole buds so the flavor stops building.
2. Dilute the baseStir in more plain cream, syrup, batter or fruit until the lavender drops back.
3. Add contrast lastA pinch of salt or a squeeze of lemon helps only after the dilution.
4. Skip a second herbAnother strong aroma competes with the lavender and makes the dish harder to judge.

An overflavored syrup can be blended into plain syrup a spoonful at a time. A lavender cake that went too far still works as one layer of a trifle with unscented cream and fruit.

Which lavender is best for cooking?

English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, is the species a University of California Master Gardener column recommends for cooking. Popular culinary cultivars include 'Munstead' and 'Hidcote'.

Its advantage over the other lavenders is chemical.

The European Pharmacopoeia caps camphor in true lavender oil at 1.2 percent. The ISO standard for 'Grosso' lavandin oil allows roughly 6 to 8.5 percent, which means lavandin carries several times as much of the note that reads as menthol and mothballs.

Lavandin is a cross between English lavender and spike lavender, Lavandula latifolia. Farms grow it for its long stems and high oil yield, and it supplies much of the lavender oil used in scented products.

It is still edible, and the same column notes that the lavandin cultivar 'Provence' is popular with meats and savory sauces.

The camphor edge means lavandin needs a lighter hand than English lavender in anything sweet.

Spanish lavender is the one to leave in the garden. The UC column calls it a landscape plant that is not preferred in the kitchen, and its oil is dominated by camphor and fenchone rather than linalool.

Color is a weak buying test because dried English lavender fades toward gray-blue and some good cultivars are pale or pink from the start.

Smell is more reliable. A crushed bud that smells clean and floral is a good sign, and a hard menthol note means that jar needs extreme restraint whatever the package says.

How do you cook with lavender?

Fat, fruit and honey give lavender's floral note something to lean on. Its aroma compounds dissolve far more readily in fat than in water, so warm cream and butter pick up the flavor quickly and spread it evenly.

Whole buds steeped in warm liquid and then strained give the most control. The cook can taste the liquid every few minutes and stop the moment it is right.

Loose ground buds in a dry dough cannot be taken back out, which makes them harder to judge.

• Cream and custardWhole buds steeped in warm cream, tasted and strained, flavor panna cotta, ice cream or pastry cream.
• Stone fruit and berriesA small pinch with peaches, apricots or blueberries and lemon keeps the fruit in front.
• Honey and syrupA short infusion, strained, gives a syrup to add by the teaspoon to lemonade or tea.
• Shortbread and cakeBuds ground with the sugar spread evenly instead of leaving bitter pockets.
• Lamb and duckA pinch with rosemary, garlic, salt and black pepper stays behind the meat.

Honey and lemon suit lavender for different reasons. Honey echoes its floral side, and lemon gives a sweet dish enough acid to keep the flower from tasting flat.

In sweet cooking, a little vanilla extract rounds lavender out and hides small changes in the dose.

Savory dishes need a firmer frame. Rosemary ties lavender to roast meat, and black pepper adds bite without a second floral note.

Lavender also turns up in North American Herbes de Provence, though the older Provencal recipes and the French Label Rouge blend leave it out.

When it goes into an herb mix, it works best as the smallest share, so the blend smells of thyme and savory first.

How much lavender should you use?

Published recipes disagree widely on lavender. A shortbread batch can call for 1/4 teaspoon of dried buds, and some ice cream recipes steep several tablespoons in cream for half an hour.

Species, freshness and steeping time explain most of that spread, so a low starting dose is the only reliable default.

Steeping time can matter as much as the spoon. A quarter teaspoon left for 20 minutes can taste stronger than half a teaspoon strained after 2.

Warm cream releases the aroma quickly, and a hard boil drives the lighter floral notes off.

Grinding changes the measure. A teaspoon of whole buds becomes a much fluffier heap once ground, so the amount must be measured before grinding.

A baking spice mix hides small changes better than a plain custard, because cinnamon, butter and browned flour share the stage. A clear drink exposes every extra bud.

In spiced tea, lavender is easiest to control when it steeps on its own and goes into the pot at the end.

Should you cook with fresh or dried lavender?

Fresh buds taste greener and softer than dried ones. Dried buds are more concentrated by volume, easier to strain and available all year.

Health Canada gives 1 teaspoon of dried herbs as the swap for 1 tablespoon of fresh. The James Beard Foundation shortbread uses the same one-to-three swap for lavender, and most herb conversion charts agree.

That ratio works for stripped buds rather than whole sprigs, because stems and leaves change how much fits in a spoon.

Fresh buds suit cold butter, fruit salads and garnishes that will be eaten. Dried buds suit baking and infusions because they behave the same way batch after batch.

Garden flowers need the same checks as a bought jar. They must come from an identified English lavender plant that has not been sprayed with products meant for ornamentals.

What can you substitute for lavender?

Nothing copies lavender's mix of flower, citrus and herb.

The better question is which job lavender was doing in the recipe. A lamb rub needs an herb, a custard needs a soft perfume, and lemonade often needs only brightness.

For savory food, dried thyme is the most neutral swap. Dried rosemary sits closer to lavender's resinous side but needs a smaller dose because it takes over a rub quickly.

A couple of crushed juniper berries suit game and duck when a woodsy note can stand in for a floral one.

In desserts, green cardamom gives cream and cake a clean perfume, although the flavor moves in a warmer direction. Lemon zest is the better pick when lavender was only backing up citrus.

If lavender is in the name of the dish, as in lavender shortbread, leaving it out is more honest than pretending another flower tastes the same.

How do you buy and store culinary lavender?

A jar labeled culinary lavender should name the species or cultivar and say the flowers were grown and handled for food. Craft bags and potpourri may look clean, but they carry no promise about pesticide sprays or handling.

• Species on the labelLavandula angustifolia or a named English cultivar such as 'Munstead'.
• Food-grade wordingCulinary or food grade, not craft, sachet or potpourri.
• Clean budsFew stems, leaves or dust at the bottom of the jar.
• Clean smellA crushed bud smells floral and herbal, not like menthol or mothballs.
• Small jarA quarter teaspoon at a time takes a long while to use up a large bag.

The label check matters more for lavender than for most spices, because the same buds are sold for sachets, crafts and cooking.

Dried lavender keeps in a closed jar away from light, heat and steam, with the same windows as other dried herbs on the shelf life chart.

A jar has faded when crushed buds smell dusty or faint. At that point a fresh jar works better than a bigger spoonful.