Help!
I know I am jumping ahead~ but I am at home for several days with nothing but time on my hands.

I can't find lavender flowers. I do have lavender leaves... do you think these will work as a substitution to flavor the honey?

At this rate I may be through chocolate before I see the sunshine again.

Happy Scooping

** just edited title - this way we can keep the entire lavender-honey ice cream discussion in one area **

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kim,

Your question got me outside to check my lavendar plants, which do still have flowers. I notice that the recipe calls for either fresh or dried flowers - you might be able to find dry lavendar flowers, not sure about using leaves. Maybe a local farmer's market?

We went to a local lavender festival in June. There are many kinds of lavender, and I was told that English lavender is the best kind to bake with, and French lavender was best with meats.

We have French lavender plants, which I may try with the ice cream, but I also found a jar of English lavender on the internet which I may go ahead and order.

Buy English Lavender

Nancy

PS - Maybe one of the mods could change the title of this thread to be the official Week 4 thread for the Lavender-Honey Ice Cream to make sure everyone has the benefit of the discussion.

I know I'm not going to be able to find lavender flowers here, so I'm planning on using some lavender honey I can buy locally. I know I could mail order the flowers, but don't want to bother with that. I can buy the lavender honey at an asian grocery store that also has some specialty items.

I've had lavendar flowers in a jar ever since I was in Chicago . . . saw them at the Spice House, bought them, had great plans to use them, never opened the jar. A friend of mine recently bought some in a health food store. Apparently they are quite popular with folks who make their own herbal teas and such. If you have such a 'beast' in your neighbourhood you might want to check there.

World Market has lavender flowers, if you have that store nearby. A small bag, not that expensive. I used them to make a cake last year that ended up tasting a lot like soap.

My aunt has a small lavender farm in CA. She raises two types. One of them is a strain for cosmetic lavendar. The other is a special culinary grade.
I understand there are hundreds of strains. Each having a special application.
She sells her crops to manufacturers even before their planted.
As an interesting note. I don't know if it is a seasonal thing; or if it is about crop rotation; or perhaps(wishful thinking) it is a decline in demand?... But in July in in the Nicconi Valley, I noticed that MANY of the fields I had always seen planted in tobacco were lavender.
The entire hill all the way up to Montemigiano was a purple haze.
At any rate, I'll be able to get mine at Global Foods.

I do have a World Market, but I'm house bound for a few days. I wish I'd thought to go there. My lavender pot didn't make it through July in Alabama.

I might just try it and see~ worse case I'll have to eat it and make it again

I guess I could jump on to Panforte...

You can order from The Spice House a Chicago institution.

I found French lavender in the spice section at World Market (Cost Plus) for 99 cents! Just in time!

Who would have thought I'd buy FRENCH lavender 5 days before leaving for Italy...

I think Bologna has the BEST gelato in Italy, so I hope to take lots of photos and get ideas on new flavor combinations to try!

None to be found anywhere in this area including the health food store! Not a thing at the gourmet store & they looked at me as if I was crazy when I asked.....no lavender tea either.I may have to skip this week..what else can I substitute?? I called our world market and negative there also.

Ida

You could always just make the ice cream and use honey. I made one a month or so ago that was honey and orange-had orange zest and orange liquor, and it was great!

I guess I can change the flavor ..honey goes well with orange but am I not doing my assignment then??

Sometimes I feel like we live in the sticks down here in Fla, I never had a problem finding anything in NJ!

Ida

Ida, do you have a garden shop in your area? Perhaps they have lavender plants. Just a crazy thought.

Ida, if you can't find lavender, how about following the recipe but infusing the honey with sage or rosemary instead. Sounds good to me. Sage honey and rosemary honey are both delicious!

I'm going to post my photo of my lavender-honey ice cream now because I'm leaving town in the morning and will be gone through the weekend. I loved this ice cream. As mentioned in an earlier post, I didn't infuse the honey with lavender, but instead used lavender honey. It has a strong honey flavor, but a subtle lavender flavor. And the honey flavor mellows out after a day or two in the freezer. Very good!

Cindy Ruth - what a wonderful backdrop you chose for your photo! Gorgeous!

Judy

Beautiful picture, Cindy. I had to look twice to see that the green was in the dish and not one of the plants in the background. Have a great weekend!

We're babysitting our grandsons for the entire weekend, so who knows if I'll have enough time to post on Sunday.
I decided to make Lemon Lavender cookies to go with. I iced some of them with a honey lavender frosting.

Wow they look good so far. I made mine tonite
(now chilling it's in the freezer)and it's fantastic. I almost ate 1/3 prior to putting it away. I did do some substitution ..OMG it's soo good.This is definitely not good for dieting!

Deborah.. I love it in your martini glass. What's in the bottom with the lemons?

Cindy ..great photo.

Ida

We just finished eating the Lavender-Honey ice cream, and I loved it! I am not being partial because I picked this week's ice cream - I thought it was very delicate and creamy. Yum!

I ended up using the dried culinary lavender that I ordered online. I was going to try my fresh lavender, but it was the very end of the blooming season, and the intensity of flavor just wasn't there. Next spring when the lavender flowers are first in bloom, I will try again to see how it compares.

Nancy

This is a great ice cream to eat poolside which is what we did. I never found the lavender so I decided to add lemon zest instead. I was going to put rosemary from my garden in it but Bill nixed that idea. Honey and lemon are a fantastic combination. I am asthmatic and very allergic to flowers so perhaps it was better that I used a substitution, otherwise I couldn't even have sampled it.I also just had some for breakfast.

Ida