Something to Drink: Lavender Cosmo

(Recipe adapted from Discover Cooking with Lavender by Kathy Gehrt)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lavender sugar (recipe here)
• 2 oz (¼ cup) citrus vodka
• 2 oz (¼ cup) lavender simple syrup (or​ to make it extra festive, add a little Parfait Amour liquor to the simple syrup)  
• 2 oz (¼ cup) cranberry juice
• Ice cubes

Directions

1.  Rub the rim of your martini glass with lime and then dip in a saucer of lavender sugar.

2. Pour vodka, lavender simple syrup, and cranberry juice into a cocktail shaker.  Add 1 cup of ice cubes and then shake for 15 seconds.

3. Strain into two martini glasses and garnish with a sprig of lavender.

Ingredients

• 1 cup each clover honey and apple cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons safflower oil or other flavorless vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground dried culinary lavender buds​
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons each dried thyme leaves and ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon each smoked sea salt (or regular sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large nonreactive saucepan, stir together the honey, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oil, lavender, allspice, thyme, ginger, salt, and pepper. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring, until just boiling. Adjust the heat so the mixture boils gently. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are well blended and the sauce is slightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate in a jar or other nonreactive storage container for up to 3 weeks. Makes about 2 1/2 cups sauce.

Flower Color: Medium purple  

Stem Length:  20-24 inches 

Plant Height:  36-42 inches

Best Uses:  Fresh and dried bouquets, sachets, oil

Impress Purple was originally a French field variety.  It was imported into New Zealand and renamed ‘Impress Purple’ by Peter Smale in 1994.  Like other intermedias, Impress blooms early to mid summer.  The color is a rich medium purple but with a bit of stripey-ness that sometimes gives them a silvery look.  I have my Impress Purple sandwiched between the Gros Bleu and the Grosso varieties in my field so that my field gets slightly lighter the further out you go.   It's a large plant, one of the largest, and forms a nice mound of grey-green foliage so that it looks nice even when it isn’t in bloom.

Impress Purple makes a beautiful cut flower because the flower spikes are nice and long, and its stems are long, strong, and straight.  And because the buds also stay on the stem well, it also makes a nice, full-looking wreath.  The wonderfully scented dried buds are my "go-to" for sachets, but interestingly, its essential oil isn't my favorite. 

It’s that time of year when we will say goodbye to Summer and hello to Fall...and I’m always both happy and sad at this change of the seasons. I love the warm nights and crickets and sunny days and peaches and tomatoes and blackberries and of course the lavender of summer.  But oh how I love the crispness in the air and the apples and pears and sunflowers and leaves of Fall. And of course, breaking out my sweaters. And pie.

But there is still a lot to do around here on the lavender farm in late Summer and early Fall.  Sure, the big job of harvesting and hanging the lavender is done, and its scent greets me every morning as I feed the goats and chickens.  But after the harvesting comes the pruning -- an important step essential to keeping your lavender healthy and productive for many years (read more about pruning here).  Generally, lavender plants live for 8-10 years, but a lavender-growing friend of mine still has most of her original plants from 16 years ago, and she swears it’s because she diligently prunes her plants back every year.   

In addition to pruning, the other big job this time of year is using all of that lavender we harvested.  We continue to distill lavender essential oil for our products (more on that below), as well as debudding dried lavender to make sachets and to use in our products. I am also busy dehydrating flowers and herbs for infusions. I must say, it smells pretty amazing here in the Baker house as we close out Summer! 

On long Summer evenings, especially after a day working in the field, one of my favorite things to do is to grab a glass of something delicious and sit out on our back shaded patio to distill lavender.  The giant kiwi plant crawling up a very sturdy trellis gives me shade and the relaxing scent of lavender wafting through the air makes this farm "chore" my favorite of all. 

Distillation itself is a quite magical process.  You put a bunch of plant material into a metal cylinder, place that on top of a giant pot of boiling water, and watch in wonder as water and oil come out of the attached metal tubes.

​Well I guess it’s a little more complicated than that...but not by much. Read more to learn about the process in a little more detail... 

I hope you've enjoyed our September newsletter! Please feel free to forward our newsletter to any lavender-loving friends who you think might be interested!  ​

​Pam ​