Getting the most out of Lavender

A

Amateur1

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If I want to add Lavender to my chocolate quinoa or savoury porridge, does it need any preparation eg roasting?
Should I add at the beginning or end of the cooking?
Are there any particular spices with which it goes well?

I'm thinking of adding 0.25 tsp of lavender with a similar amount of salt, 50g of porridge, 0.25 pints of milk and about 100ml of water. I was planning to add it at the end.

Lavender - Spice Mountain

If it works I will try it with my chocolate quinoa. Does it need more fat to get the best flavour from it?
I may try it in pizza. Should I add it with the dough and put it in the oven, in the middle when I turn it over or right at the end?
My aim is to get the maximum flavour.
 
One thing I do know is that you neeed to be very cautious with lavender. If you add to much your food will taste like soap! Its a powerful flavour. I would simply grind or crush the dried flowers. My instinct is that roasting/toasting them wouldn't work but I've never tried it.

As it has such a strong flavour I don't think it matters too much if you add at the beginning or end of cooking.
 
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I agree with Morning Glory. Lavender is potent - very potent, which is one of the reasons it´s used more in perfumes than in food preparation. Some recipes for herbes de Provence include lavender, but a quick calculation tells me that the proportion of lavender to other herbs is less than 0.3%.
Edit: I would NOT put it in pizza dough. You´d probably end up with a Chanel No.5 Margherita.
 
I tried 0.25 tsp in my ginger quinoa recipe (truvia maple syrup, 1 tsp ginger and 0.25 tsp cinnamon) and wasn't that keen.
Thanks for your help.
 
I found this site and tried 0.25tsp of lavender, 0.25 tsp of mint and 0.5 tsp of sage with just under 0.25tsp of salt in my porridge. It worked quite well. I got the idea from this site.
19 Best Lavender Recipes
 
Amateur1 said:
I sprinked some on a date before I ate it. Quite nice actually.
Click to expand...

I have to confess that I can't get my head around eating something that always featured in those awful pot pouri bowls my late ex-step-grandmother was so very fond of. Her home stank of them.

I think I'll leave it growing in my garden and eat my dates plain. Lol.
 
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