Lavender Syrup

Lavender is probably my favorite flavour. Doesn’t that taste like soap? You might ask. Granted, it can be an overpowering flavour, but if used wisely lavender can give a really interesting twist to many of your desserts.

Lavender Pairing

There are many ways to pair lavender. In my opinion lavender + blueberry is the best combination, proof this legendary gluten-, dairy free layer cake I had created for Smeg. Lavender + honey works great too. Imagine lavender honey macarons or ice cream; got you hooked, haven’t I? What about lavender + lemon? You’d be surprised how well lavender + black tea works too, and that was my first approach to the culinary use of lavender, as my dad used to add dried lavender flowers from our yard to our afternoon teas (no, we’re not English, but in my family we like our teas). 

Where to Find Lavender

Easy answer; from your garden. If you are lucky enough to have a garden and lavender bushes, you scored. Your garden lavender would surely be organic and easily accessible. When lavender has bloomed, just collect the flowers, dry them and store them in a paper bag or glass jar and they’ll be ready to use.

If you’re not so lucky to have your own lavender, the easiest way to get it is probably online. It’s quite rare to find dried edible lavender from the drug section of your local grocery store. Here in Finland I found it once in Flying Tiger and I know that Ruohonjuuri has it. I also checked amazon and there are quite a few options there too. Personally I have no experience with any of these because I use the lavender from my family’s garden back in Italy. If you buy dried lavender, just make sure that it’s for cooking purposes and that it’s organic.

Lavender Syrup – Uses

An easy way to incorporate lavender flavour to your recipes is making lavender syrup. Once you have that ready, it’s an effortless job to add a tablespoon of that into your lattes, drinks, desserts or just use it like that on a stack of pancakes.

Also, Klaus created this amazing Blueberry Lavender Mocktail where Lavender Syrup is the key ingredient.

A properly made syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.