Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, Bath & Body Products

What says "Spring" better than rhubarb?!

We're excited to try out this recipe for Lavender Panna Cotta with Poached Rhubarb! It sounds delicious!

Day 6 of our 12 Days of Christmas Gift Guides: Gifts for the Chef!

Anyone who enjoys cooking would love our Ultimate Culinary Gift Set; all of the lavender essentials wrapped and ready for gift-giving! The set includes our Certified Organic Culinary, Lavender Herbs de Provence, Lavender Pepper Spice Blend, and Lavender Pink Himalayan Salt. It also includes a recipe card with three lavender recipes so the recipient can get started cooking right away! For an extra-special gift, pair the Ultimate Culinary Gift Set with the Lavender Cookbook. This cookbook contains the best lavender recipes we've ever found, and has a wide variety to choose from. Browse through our In the Kitchen section to find the perfect gift for the connoisseur on your list!

These sugar cubes are a great project for so many reasons! Simple and easy, you'll end up with a chic collection of tasty sugar cubes that can flavor coffee, tea, or even make a delicately flavored lavender tea. Put them in a china tea cup for when company comes over, and your guests will be blown away by the presentation!

If you have acquired a bottle of our certified organic Angustifolia lavender essential oil, this is an excellent way to put it to use! You'll want to use Angustifolia essential oil because it's naturally much more suited for culinary use- it's sweeter and more floral.

STEPS:

Start with one cup white sugar. Add one or two drops of our certified organic Angustifolia lavender essential oil and one tablespoon of water. Mix with a spoon- the mixture should be crumbly and damp. Press into miniature ice cube trays, (we also found that plastic candy molds or resin molds work well), or use a melon baller to press sugar into half-domes. Let dry- usually this doesn't take longer than overnight, but the deeper the mold, the longer they'll need to set. Once dry, keep in an airtight container until ready to use.

Once dry, decorate with Royal Icing. We mixed one egg white with one teaspoon lemon juice, then added two cups powdered sugar and a few drops food coloring, and blended all together. If you're worried about raw eggs, you can also find Royal Icing recipes using Meringue Powder.

We decorated the lavender sugar cubes with lavender flowers, but had so much fun (and extra icing) that we decorated an entire box of regular sugar cubes for a friend's tea-themed bridal shower. Lavender Sugar Cubes would be a great addition to events such as birthday parties, teas, luncheons, bridal showers, etc.

Tip: we tried tinting the lavender sugar cubes purple by mixing red and blue food coloring with the sugar mixture. However, they really looked gray once they dried. We'd recommend trying a pre-mixed purple.

It may very well be fall, with the holidays just around the corner; but at Jardin du Soleil we are playing up lavender with citrus to brighten our crisp October days! Enjoy this recipe with Certified Organic Culinary Lavender. For stronger lavender flavor replace regular sugar with Certified Organic Lavender Sugar, and pair with any of our Lavender Tea Blends and enjoy!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup confection sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 teaspoons Jardin du Soleil Culinary Lavender, crushed
2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon rind

Topping:

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
confection sugar (to dust before serving)

Yield: 2 dozen bars

Prep time: 30 min, Total time: 75 min

Directions:

1. In small mixing bowl, cream butter and confection sugar; Add the flour, almonds, lavender, and lemon peel; beat until crumbly.

2. Pat into an ungreased 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish; bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

3. In another small mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, eggs and lemon juice; beat until frothy; pour over HOT crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown; cool on wire rack, dust with powdered sugar; refrigerate leftovers

Start the summer learning to cook with lavender!!  The LAVENDER Cookbook by Sharon Shipley on sale now for $14.95 while supplies last!

"Add the subtle scent of lavender to aromatic jasmine rice and you get a new side dish fit for company- and easy enough for quick weeknight meals.  Take your choice of mushrooms. Cremini and Shiitake are especially good. I like to prepare the pilaf in a rice cooker.  If you don't have one, use a covered 2-quart casserole dish and bake the rice at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes."

Ingredients

1 tbls. dried Jardin du Soleil Certified Organic Culinary Lavender
2 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
2 tbls. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 lb. mixed mushrooms, diced
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
1/2 cup finely diced shallot
1/2 cup finely diced green onions
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

Combine the lavender, mustard seeds, and fennel seeds in the spice grinder.  Pulse until finely ground.

Warm oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute` for 7 minutes, or until golden and the liquid released my the mushrooms evaporates.  Add the rice, shallot, green onions, salt, pepper, and lavender mixture.

Transfer to the rice cooker and add the chicken broth.  Cook for 30 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.

This recipe is taken from page 136 of Sharon Shipley's The Lavender Cookbook,available here.

Mom always in the kitchen? This Mother's Day give her gifts she'll love to use! Spice up her pantry with Jardin du Soleil's certified organic Culinary Lavender, Lavender Pepper, and Herbs de Provence.Refresh her recipe collection with The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley.
Help pretty up her market fresh groceries with our ecoSilk reusable grocery bag.
Start Mother's Day off with a batch of our Lavender Apricot Scones with White Chocolate, and watch Mom tell you how perfect her day is!

Place your order online now to take advantage of our Mother's Day special offer of FREE SHIPPING WITH ONLINE ORDERS OF $50.00 OR MORE through May 9, 2010.

Show Mom your appreciation, and bake up some of these delicious homemade lavender scones!  If you're a stranger to the kitchen this easy-to-follow recipe is the right place to start. With a little culinary lavender everyone will marvel at your delectable thoughtfulness.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups self rising flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon certified organic Jardin du Soleil Culinary Lavender

6 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup & 1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 white chocolate chips

Sift and measure the flour.
Re-sift flour with sugar.
Work shortening with flour and sugar with fingers.
Add Apricots, White Chocolate Chips, and Lavender; mix thoroughly.
Add milk to mixture and form into a ball.
Note: if you prefer smaller scones, divide mixture into two smaller pieces. 
Turn out on to a floured board, pat into a round, and cut into wedge shaped pieces.
Bake about 15 minutes at 450 degrees on an ungreased baking sheet.
Enjoy!

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This week we've been cooking a lot with lavender.  We've used Jardin du Soleil Certified Organic Culinary Lavender flowers tossed in almost every salad, or mixed with a combo of vinegar, honey, mustard, salad oil , salt and pepper for our own dressings.  We also added our Culinary Lavender to a savory potato soup.  I baked scones using fresh ground lavender, white chocolate and apricot [shown in picture]. It's easy to add Jardin du Soleil Certified Organic Culinary Lavender into your every day meals.  Savory dishes that usually have sage, thyme, rosemary, or basil can benefit greatly from culinary lavender, and you'll be praised for your innovative palette pleasing idea.
Sweet dishes, with our lavender added, seem to take on a "comfort food" kind of appeal, even if you didn't grow up with using lavender in food.

So explore our posted lavender recipes, follow our blog weekly for added recipes, and have fun incorporating  Jardin du Soleil Certified Organic Culinary Lavender into your home cooking.  You'll be pleasantly surprised!