More than decoration:

If you come across lavender, you wouldn’t think twice about adding it to a skin care product or shower gel. But creme brulee or pork shoulder? Sounds a bit out there to me, but the purple buds are popping up on gourmet menus more frequently these days.

Taste:

Lavender brings a woodsy, floral scent to dishes and is seen frequently in sweets like chocolates or ice cream, according to McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Ed Higgins, chef at Quattro at Palo Alto’s Four Seasons, says the reason lavender is popping up on more menus is because of a greater reliance by chefs to use the fruits of their own gardens for their restaurants.

Higgins prefers his lavender honey in a chilled carrot soup. Others may enjoy a few buds with their herbal tea.



Partners:

Lavender has almost a sixth sense when it gets added into a recipe. When the buds go in with sweet ingredients, it will pick up a floral note, but add the spikes and leaves to a roast chicken in place of rosemary and it takes on an herbal taste, according to MCT.

Dazed and infused:

Check specialty and gourmet food stores for lavender-infused honey, sugar and salt products. Or make them yourself by adding the purple buds to your salt grinder or pulse buds with sugar in a food processor.

Benefits:

According to

, the linalool oil in lavender helps to reduce gas, bloating and inflammation. It shows up as an ingredient in cough formulas because of its expectorant and antiseptic qualities.

Use sparingly:

advises says that a pinch of lavender goes a long way (read: too much lavender and your dessert will taste like a bottle of perfume).

Stick to the grocery store:

Don’t buy your culinary lavender from florists or nurseries, as it may have been treated. Stick to gourmet food stores instead.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services contributed to this report.

Lavender brownies

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1¼ cups sugar (can be infused with 1 Tablespoon of lavender)

1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon lavender bulbs

3/8 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325. Put sugar and lavender buds in a food processor and pulse. Set a double boiler or a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Add butter, lavender sugar, cocoa and salt, stirring occasionally until the butter melts and the mixture becomes fairly smooth and hot. Remove from heat and let cool until the mixture is warm.

With a wooden spoon, stir in vanilla, then add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. The mixture will be smooth and shiny. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated, then stir the mixture vigorously for 40 more strokes. Pour into an 8x8 baking pan lined with parchment paper or foil, making sure the two ends hang over the edges of the pan.

Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with just a bit of the batter on it. Let pan cool completely on a wire rack, then use the ends of the foil or parchment paper to lift the brownies out.