Buckfast Abbey’s lavender garden
Extracted from a Gardening magazine (Author unknown):-
“It may seem eccentric and slightly hazardous to eat Lavender flowers but once you start thinking of it as a herb or a vegetable, rather than an ornamental, you will realise just how delicious it can be.”
“I have made lovely puddings using Lavender flowers. The best to use are any Lavendula angustifolia or L. x intermedia varieties. Pick the flowers just before they open, then put them in a jar and mix with caster sugar. Leave the jar on the window sill for four weeks, then sift the sugar from the flowers. This sugar can then be used to make fantastic cakes, biscuits and meringues.”
“Lavender flowers can also be used to make an interesting cup of tea. Queen Elizabeth I, when unable to sleep, is said to have partaken of lavender tea as a mild sedative. I have tried this, and its strong taste means that it’s not for the faint-hearted.”
Lavender kissing comfits were said in times gone by to make men amorous. Comfits were small but strongly flavoured sweets coated with layers of liquid sugar flavoured with orange, rose, violet or lavender.
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