Lavender is well known as a traditional cottage-garden flowering plant, with its violet buds held high on spikes above the gray-green foliage. This beautiful, fragrant herb has been used since the middle ages for a variety of purposes including culinary, medicinal, and cosmetics.
This aromatic herb offers a floral and elegant flavor to baked goods, desserts, salads, soups and a variety of dishes. Flowers can be candied and are sometimes used as decorations on cookies and cake, or infused into sugar to impart a subtle flavor. In the summertime here in Kelowna, the Okanagan Lavender Farm offers delicious scones, jellies, cookies, and more in their cute café.
Medicinally, lavender can help soothe nerves and is known to ease mild depression and possess mood-elevating effects. Additionally, this herb can help ease headaches when they are primarily stress related. Promoting a feeling of calm and tranquility, lavender helps to have a good night’s sleep.
Lavender is effective for a wide range of skin ailments including cuts, sores, burns, and acne due to its antiseptic, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. Lavender is used extensively in cosmetics for perfume, infused herbal oils, tinctures, deodorants, body powders, creams, and lotions as it is both healing and soothing to skin while inducing a calming effect on the soul.
Here at Crystal Hills, organic lavender can be found in our Crystal Dreams product line.
Lavender Tea:
For a relaxing tea, infuse one teaspoon of dried herb to one cup of boiling water. Let steep 5-8 minutes.
Essential Oil:
The essential oil of lavender can be inhaled or used in the bath by adding 5-8 drops to the water. For external application, it can be rubbed on the skin when diluted with a carrier oil.
