The Love of Lavender

Lavender is in bloom and on several farms around here, there are fields covered with mounded rows of purple and mauve. It's a wonderful sight and if we only had the sunshine and warmth that July should bring, the air would be redolent with the  soothing perfume of lavender.

As a child, I loved helping to make lavender sachets to store amongst the linen. I doubt I was a great deal of help as my main aim was to handle the dried flowers as much as possible so that the scent would linger on my hands. Back then I had no idea that such places as lavender farms existed or I am sure that I would have harboured the ambition to have one when I grew up. Since that clearly didn't happen hasn't happened yet, I 'll just make do with visiting the ones around here. With that in mind, last week I arranged to catch up with a friend at Long Barn during their Lavender Week. We sat and had coffee on the terrace over looking the nursery field.

 

We had also ordered lavender shortbread. The heart shaped biscuits came elegantly garnished with sprigs of fresh lavender and looked so tempting and  tasted so delicious that I have to confess that we had eaten them before I thought to take a picture. ( Yes, I know that's the second time that has happened recently; note to self "Photos first, feed later") Even with the threatening skies and the all too inevitable downpour it was a fascinating place to spend a morning.

A perfect reminder of the recipe on  the wonderful Millefeuilles blog and a good excuse to try it. Ever since I had seen a recipe for shortbread buttons in the May issue of Country Living magazine I had promised myself that the next time  I made shortbread biscuits, they would be button shaped. So here, I present 2 ideas brought together.

Lavender Shortbread Buttons

Such a success! You can find Stephanie's recipe here in the post Pomona and the Poet's Rose. I used about half a teaspoonful of lavender flowers and for me, that was just the right amount. Not enough to overwhelm but it is still discernible. I used a 5cm cutter and then used a small glass to press halfway through to create the rims of the buttons. I used a skewer to create the holes and in some cases had to re-open these after cooking. Easy enough to do while they are still hot and fairly soft before transferring them to a rack to cool and crisp up. Should the thought of eating flowers trigger a shudder response instead of salivating, then substitute grated lemon zest for the lavender. 

You may well notice no sign of the apricot coulis  Stephanie made and I just know it would work so well as  an accompaniment for  these biscuits. Last December I had the  sublime good fortune to eat apricots fresh from the tree in my brother and sister-in-law's garden. Since then I have sworn never to have anything to do with fresh apricots unless I am within 2 km of the tree on which they were sun-ripened. The supermarket ones here have very little in common with what apricots should be. Hence no apricot coulis but the shortbread are also extremely good just as they are. 

Although I don't have a plot extending to acres and I suspect our heavy clay here isn't just what lavender thrives in, it's obvious that the half a dozen or so lavender bushes we have are simply not enough. Just as well that on Gardeners' World last night, Monty Don pointed out that now is a good time to be taking cuttings. May be I should be out taking some just in case I need a lot more plants sometime soon.