Cooking With Lavender? Here's How To Avoid That Soapy Taste

It turns out lavender has more uses than spa products. Known for its calming fragrance and beautiful purple blossoms, lavender has also been used in cooking for centuries. However, it's the type of ingredient that requires a bit of caution, especially when it comes to flavoring your dishes. Yes — this herb has a gorgeous and unique floral taste that brings a fragrant vibe to any dish (think honey lavender ice cream), but it's this same taste that can be a bit overpowering. One of the biggest challenges you can face when including lavender in your recipe is how to avoid that soapy taste that can take over the palate — but, luckily, there's a way around that: the type of lavender you use.

You're probably thinking: Isn't lavender just lavender? And, if so, you'd be correct. However, there's a massive difference between the lavender growing at your local farm and the type you should cook with. So, before you pluck some lavender out of that flower arrangement to use in your floral-forward fruit salad, take some time to learn about the difference between that version and culinary lavender.

Now, not all lavender is created equal. While the lavender plants in your garden or floral shop may look beautiful, they often aren't intended for consumption. The lavender typically used in cooking is lavandula angustifolia, also known as English lavender. This variety has a gentler, sweeter flavor with subtle citrusy and herbaceous notes, making it ideal for culinary purposes. Other types of lavender, like lavandula stoechas, tend to have more pungent notes that can quickly turn a dish bitter and soapy. No thanks.

Culinary lavender is specifically cultivated for its delicate fragrance and flavor, and it's harvested in a way that ensures it's free from pesticides and other harmful chemicals that can impact the taste. When you use culinary lavender, you're using a plant that's been bred to impart a balanced, pleasant flavor without the overpowering bitterness of non-culinary lavender varieties.

Even culinary lavender is incredibly potent, so it's important to use it in moderation. Start with a small amount — whether using fresh flowers or dried lavender buds — and taste as you go. You can always add more, but once it's in the dish, it's hard to take out. For most recipes, 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried lavender is plenty, and that amount can be reduced even further if you're just using it for a subtle hint of flavor.

Infusing your ingredients with lavender is another great way to get that floral hint without risking a soapy taste. Lavender simple syrup (which is just a standard simple syrup recipe boiled with about a teaspoon of dried lavender) is a great way to bring a floral taste to your cocktails, baked goods, and even salad dressings. Just use it in place of any flavored syrup in your recipe. However, it's important to note that lavender should never be cooked at high temperatures for extended periods. Overheating will cause the essential oils to become too concentrated and lead to that off-putting soap-like flavor — which, of course, we don't want!