Different lavender varieties can and do cross-pollinate, and this can definitely have an effect on lavender used for cooking, primarily if you're growing it from seed collected from your own garden.
Here's why and what it means for culinary lavender:
1. Cross-Pollination Happens: Just like for essential oil use or general gardening, if you have different lavender varieties (species or cultivars) growing near each other and they are blooming at the same time, bees and other pollinators will transfer pollen between them.
2. Impact on Plants Grown from Collected Seeds (The Main Concern for Cooking): If you then collect seeds from these cross-pollinated plants and grow new lavender plants from them, the resulting plants will be hybrids. This means their characteristics, including their flavor and aroma, will be a mix of the parent plants.
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Flavor Profile: Different lavender varieties have distinct flavor profiles due to varying levels of aromatic compounds like linalool, linalyl acetate, and camphor.
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English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) varieties (like 'Munstead', 'Hidcote', 'Maillette', 'Provence Blue') are generally considered the best for culinary use because they have a sweeter, more floral flavor with lower camphor content, which can taste medicinal or bitter in high concentrations.
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Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia) varieties (like 'Grosso', 'Provence') are hybrids that typically have higher camphor levels, giving them a stronger, more herbaceous, and sometimes medicinal or resinous taste. While some people use them sparingly in cooking, they are generally less preferred for delicate dishes.
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French (Lavandula dentata) and Spanish (Lavandula stoechas) lavenders also have different flavor profiles, often more resinous or piney due to higher camphor, pinene, and cineole levels, making them less common for culinary purposes.
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Unpredictable Offspring: If an English lavender plant is cross-pollinated by a Lavandin, and you plant its seeds, the new plant might have a higher camphor content than you'd expect from a culinary English lavender. This could lead to a less desirable, more bitter, or overly "piney" flavor in your cooking.
3. What to Do for Consistent Culinary Lavender:
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Choose the Right Varieties: For consistent culinary quality, always start with English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) varieties that are known for their sweet, low-camphor flavor. Popular choices include 'Munstead', 'Hidcote', 'Provence Blue', and 'Maillette'.
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Propagate by Cuttings: To ensure your culinary lavender plants maintain their exact desired flavor profile, always propagate them from cuttings of a known, good culinary variety. Cuttings are genetic clones, guaranteeing consistency. Do not rely on seeds collected from open-pollinated plants if flavor consistency is important.
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Taste Test: If you're unsure about the flavor of any lavender in your garden, always snip a tiny piece of a fresh flower bud and taste it before incorporating it into your dishes. You'll quickly discern if it has a pleasant floral note or an unpleasantly strong, bitter, or medicinal taste.
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Harvesting: For cooking, use only the fresh flower buds (unopened or just barely open) or dried buds. The leaves contain more camphor and are less desirable for flavor. Harvest on a dry, sunny day when the essential oils are most concentrated.
In essence, while cross-pollination will occur, it primarily affects the characteristics of plants grown from seed. If you are growing specific culinary lavender varieties (which are usually English lavenders) and propagating them by cuttings, you can maintain their consistent and desired flavor for cooking.
