In our Ephraim kitchen, the first question we ask before any new recipe is the same one a Door County chef asks before reaching for a fresh herb: which variety? Lavender is no different. The bud that perfumes a shortbread is not the same bud that scents a sachet, and the difference between a magical bite and a soapy one almost always comes down to which plant the buds were cut from. After tending more than 20,000 plants across our Baileys Harbor fields, we have strong opinions about which lavenders belong in the pantry — and which ones we leave in the candle room.
This is our working guide to culinary lavender: the varieties we cook with, the ones we don't, and a few notes on how a Door County climate quietly shapes the flavor.
What "culinary lavender" actually means
There is no separate species called "culinary lavender." The term is shorthand for varieties of Lavandula angustifolia — true English lavender — that have low camphor content and a sweet, floral aroma rather than a sharp, medicinal one. Camphor is the compound that makes some lavenders smell like a freshly cleaned bathroom. Wonderful in a linen drawer. Distracting in a scone.
Two practical rules guide us:
- Cook with Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender). These cultivars are naturally lower in camphor and higher in linalool, the compound responsible for that honeyed, slightly citrus aroma.
- Avoid Lavandula x intermedia (lavandin) in food. Lavandins are wonderful workhorses — bigger plants, more oil, longer stems — but the oil is camphor-forward. Even small amounts can turn a custard into something that tastes like a spa.
Every variety we recommend below is angustifolia. Every one we set aside is a lavandin. That single distinction will save more recipes than any other tip we can offer.
The Wilder Farms varieties we cook with
We grow five named varieties at the farm at 9668 State Highway 57. Two of them earn permanent space on our kitchen shelf.
Royal Velvet — our house favorite for baking
Royal Velvet is the variety we reach for first when a recipe calls for dried buds. The flavor is deep, almost wine-like, with a dark berry sweetness that holds up beautifully against butter, cream, and honey. The buds also dry to a rich purple-black that looks gorgeous on top of a shortbread or stirred into a sugar.
We use Royal Velvet in:
- Shortbread and sablés
- Lavender sugar (1 tablespoon buds to 1 cup sugar, pulsed briefly)
- Honey infusions
- Crème brûlée and panna cotta
A little goes a long way. For most baked goods, half a teaspoon of dried buds per cup of dry ingredients is plenty.
Hidcote — the variety for delicate, savory work
Hidcote is the classic English lavender — compact plants, deep violet flowers, and a clean, bright aroma. The flavor is more restrained than Royal Velvet, with less sweetness and a slight herbaceous edge. That makes it our pick for savory cooking and for any dish where we want the lavender to whisper instead of sing.
We use Hidcote in:
- Herbes de Provence blends (with thyme, rosemary, savory, and a pinch of fennel)
- Roasted chicken and lamb rubs
- Goat cheese and chèvre toppings
- Infused vinegars and finishing salts
Hidcote also makes the cleanest lavender lemonade we have ever poured. If you have tasted the lemonade we serve at our Ephraim shop in summer, you have tasted Hidcote.
Melissa — a gentle option for tea and syrups
Our Melissa plants produce the rare soft-pink buds that always stop visitors in their tracks at the farm. The flavor follows the color: gentle, honeyed, and lightly fruity. We don't use Melissa as often as Royal Velvet or Hidcote, but it has a quiet home in tisanes, simple syrups, and white-chocolate work where a heavier variety would dominate.
A Melissa simple syrup over fresh Door County strawberries in July is one of those small, perfect summer pleasures.
The varieties we keep out of the kitchen
We grow two lavandins at the farm because they are essential to our oil and bouquet work — but they stay out of our recipes.
- Phenomenal. Our hardiest field plant and the backbone of our distillation. The oil is glorious for soaps and candles; the camphor note is too forward for food.
- Super Blue. Beautiful in borders, beautiful in dried bunches, and a steady producer of essential oil. Not a baking lavender.
If a recipe just says "dried lavender" with no variety listed, and the buds smell sharp or medicinal when you crush one between your fingers, you almost certainly have a lavandin. Use it for sachets, save the recipe for a different batch.
How Door County quietly shapes the flavor
Lavender flavor isn't fixed by variety alone — climate matters too. Our fields sit on the Door peninsula between Lake Michigan and Green Bay, and that location does three useful things for culinary lavender:
- Cool nights concentrate aromatics. The temperature swing between a 78°F afternoon and a 55°F July night slows the plants down just enough to deepen their oil profile.
- A short, intense season. Our bloom window is roughly late June through early August. The compressed harvest means each bud carries more of the season's flavor.
- No chemicals, ever. We don't use pesticides or synthetic fertilizers on any of the 20,000+ plants. For anything you intend to eat, that is non-negotiable.
If you visit during bloom, you can taste the difference for yourself. Crush a fresh Royal Velvet bud between your fingers at the farm in mid-July and the aroma is unmistakably Door County — sweeter and rounder than the same variety grown in a hotter, drier climate.
Buying culinary lavender (and a few honest notes)
A few things we wish more people knew before buying dried lavender for cooking:
- Look for the variety name. "Culinary lavender" with no cultivar listed is a yellow flag. Reputable growers will tell you if it's Royal Velvet, Hidcote, Folgate, Munstead, or another angustifolia.
- Look at the color. Good culinary buds are still vividly purple, not faded gray-brown. Color fades within a year or two even when stored well.
- Smell before you cook. Crush a single bud and inhale. If it reads as sweet and floral, you're in business. If it reads as sharp or medicinal, save it for a sachet.
- Store in glass, away from light. Dried buds keep their flavor for about a year in a sealed jar in a cool cupboard.
We dry our culinary buds slowly in small batches and bottle them in our Ephraim store. You can browse the food-and-pantry side of our line in our seasonal collection, and you'll find related calming products in rest & relax and aromatherapy when you're ready to move from the kitchen to the bath.
A simple way to start
If you've never cooked with lavender, start with sugar. Pulse one tablespoon of Royal Velvet buds with one cup of granulated sugar for ten seconds in a food processor. Let it sit overnight. Use a teaspoon in your morning coffee, sprinkle it over shortbread before baking, or rim a glass of lemonade. It's the single best way to learn what culinary lavender actually tastes like — and to feel which variety you want to graduate to next.
When you're ready to taste them side by side, come visit us. The farm at 9668 State Highway 57 in Baileys Harbor is open Tue–Sun 10–5, and our Ephraim shop pours fresh lavender lemonade all summer. Call 920-737-1531 if you'd like us to set aside a particular variety from this season's harvest.
Cook gently. Start small. And when in doubt, reach for the angustifolia.
