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Flower Power

evan barbour, editorial assistant

Courtesy of Lisa Fain, homesicktexan.blogspot.com

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One of the best things about moving back home for the summer to Connecticut from New York City is my parent's herb garden. Come June, I'm always ecstatic to cook with the surfeit of basil, thyme, mint, oregano and chives that seem to sprout overnight, and discovering new ways to use them is half the fun. This year, however, I'm most excited about lavender.

Lavender and I aren't strangers; we're long-time acquaintances. Its scent has always been my second favorite (vanilla inches into first place), and my childhood memories are filled with it - from freshly folded laundry to my mother's flower arrangements on the kitchen table. Recently, though, a newfound curiosity to cook with it has emerged seemingly as fast as the herbs are beginning to accumulate in our little garden down below the deck, and I'm hungry to get to know my life-long acquaintance on a deeper level. One problem? I'm not sure where to start. Luckily, a recent post from Homesick Texan has provided me with a point of departure to begin a culinary love affair with lavender. In this honey lavender ice cream recipe, my two favorite scents meld with honey into an intriguing flavor of my favorite genre of dessert. You can be sure that this ice cream will be churning in my kitchen the very day the first handful of blossoms are harvested.

Now, please dish - what do you cook with lavender?

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Comments (1)

SandyW writes: I've lately added dried lavender to a mixture of herbes de Provence, especially for use with chicken on the grill.

I like a touch of it in desserts involving goat cheese and honey on or in pastry. There are also good recipes around (Laura Calder has one) for shortbread or sugar cookies flavoured with lavender. I've also seen butter cake recipes pairing blueberries and lavender (wild blueberries (huckleberries?), please!), but I haven't tried those yet. I've been meaning to try my hand at some lavender-honey ice cream. Posted: 3:31 pm on July 15th

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