Lavender: The Hot Herb of 2024
So lavender is the hot "new" herb for 2024? Recorded data shows the use of lavender for healing properties, in perfumery and cooking back in 77AD! It's popularity has never dwindled, however chefs, bakers, and baristas have elevated this aromatic herb to new culinary heights recently.
For tea companies, the marriage of lavender with teas and other herbs is nothing new. Many of us have incorporated lavender into our tea blends for many years, as well as created culinary recipes with those blends.
The first blend we created with lavender was an herbal concoction called Lavender Lace that we introduced in 1993.
The following year in 1994 we introduced Victorian Earl Grey which combines the ever popular Earl Grey with roses, rosemary, and lavender.
Over the years we have incorporated lavender into many other popular blends:
This mellowing blend brews to a golden cup, with the delightful taste and aroma of fresh mango.
Citral Bee (introduced early in 2024)
The brewed cup is a deep golden color with lively notes of lemon and lavender. The bee pollen in this blend adds a slight earthy flavor that rounds out the complex flavors to create a blend worthy of our hard-working bee friends.
This blend captures the color and joy of Austen's characters while taking inspiration from the herbs and flowers she cultivated in her own garden.
A tantalizing blend of organic Lemon Myrtle, Rooibos Earl Grey, lavender and rose petals results in a superior and pleasing floral cup.
Gardens, herbs, and flowers appear in many of Shakespeare's plays and oftentimes play a critical role in his stories.
This insightful herbal blend brews to a light golden color with a heady aroma and a light floral taste with the pronounced flavor of lavender and rosemary.
Lavender flowers, an herb that thrives in sunny, hot desert (arid), rocky landscapes, were added for their woody, earthy and floral taste.
This blend for universal love and acceptance has a golden cup with a deep floral taste and a lingering earthiness.
This blissful blend brews to a golden cup with a well rounded taste that is a perfect balance of sweet, spice and floral.
For those lovers of lavender, this tea provides a unique tasting experience.
Comprised of French Vanilla Rooibos, rose petals and lavender, it yields a delightful floral aroma with a smooth and creamy vanilla taste.
In the botanical world, perhaps the most popular and versatile herb is Lavender. Used in Ancient Rome and Egypt for healing properties, perfumery and cooking, lavender first appeared in writing in 77AD. It's name comes from the Latin word "lavare" (to wash) solidifying it's presence in soaps and cosmetics. It's popularity has only continued throughout the years.
Lavender is a flowering perennial herb that is native to the Mediterranean. Today it can be found growing in many places around the globe, however for commercial purchases, lavender is grown in vast quantities in France, Bulgaria, the US (Washington State), and the Iberian Peninsula, among others.
See our blog: The Many Uses & Benefits of Lavender for in depth information on the cosmetic, culinary and medicinal uses of lavender.
Since we wrote that blog we've added lavender to other tea blends (above) and in recipes.
Recipes:
Lavender Honey
¼ cup honey (the lighter the honey the more pronounced the flavor of the herbs)
1 tsp Lavender flowers
Put the Lavender in a clean jar. Pour the honey over the herbs and seal the jar. Let the lavender infuse into the honey for 5 days or more. Strain out the herbs by pouring the honey through a sieve into a clean jar. Perfect in tea as well as on toast, scones and cakes!
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. ground lavender flowers
Blend the softened butter in an electric mixer. Add the sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.
Mix the flour, salt and ground lavender. Gradually add this blend to the butter/sugar and mix until the dough comes together.
Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper, roll into a log (approx. 2.5" in diameter) and tightly seal. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 375 and grease a cookie sheet.
Slice the log into 1/3" cookies, place on cookie sheets, and bake until the edges are a golden brown.
Lavender Sugar
Put the flowers in sugar and seal tightly for a couple of weeks. Use this sugar in your favorite dessert recipes.
Lavender Lace Whipped Cream
Put 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan on the stove. Heat the cream until it just begins to bubble and steam rises. Remove from the heat and add 1 teaspoon of Lavender Lace herbal tisane. Cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out the herbal blend and chill the infused cream. When chilled whip and enjoy.
Lavender Lace Gin & Tonic
Infused Gin:
Put 1 Tbsp of Lavender Lace in an 8oz jar and cover with gin. Set aside for 5 days to infuse then strain out the herbs.
Cocktail:
1oz Lavender Lace Gin
5oz Tonic
1 tsp Hibiscus syrup
Place gin, tonic and syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake, then pour into a glass with ice, add a wedge of lime and enjoy!
We hope you enjoy these recipes for using 2024's "hot" herb!
Leave a comment