Cooking with lavender

June 5, 2019

Cooking with lavender is easier than you think and with a few quick tips you’ll be assured of a great tasting treat. The hero image shown here is a lavender parfait in gingerbread a creation by head chef Chris Hagan from The Long Apron.

1. Buy culinary lavender, don’t use your garden off cuts
2. Strain the leaves for a smoother chew
3. Use sparingly as it can produce a strong floral flavour
4. Perfect for sweets and savoury such as roast chicken

Lavender Ice Cream Recipe

• 4 egg yolks
• 85 g caster sugar
• 425 ml double cream
• 2 tablespoons of culinary lavender

1. Separate the eggs retaining the yolks in a bowl. Whisk the yolks with the caster sugar until it’s lighter in colour and resembles a mousse.
2. Put a small saucepan on the stove and warm the cream and lavender being careful not to boil the mixture, one nicely warmed remove from heat.
3. At this point you can strain out the lavender leaves or if you like the look (and bits) leave it in. Pour the lavender cream into the bowl with the egg/sugar mix, whisking all the time.
4. Prepare a pan of simmering water and set over the bowl (if you have a double-boiler that would be ideal), you don’t want the mixture to have direct heat. Reheat very slowly.
5. The lavender mixture will thicken slowly until it looks like a custard.  Stir regularly to make sure it does not stick to the bowl.
6. Remove the now thick custard from the heat and transfer to a bowl.  Cool to room temperature and then transfer to the fridge to chill completely.
7. When you are ready transfer the cool mixture to your ice cream maker using the instructions on your machine. Once sufficiently churned and chilled you’ll have your delicious lavender ice cream.