Herb of the Month: Lavender

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of lavender is a soothing bath. There have been many days in the past where I just soak in a hot steamy tub with lavender bath salts, candles lit, and soft music. Come to think of it, I haven’t done that is a long time, so I think I’m overdue.

Lavender has become one of my favorite herbs in the garden. Not only are the purple flowers pleasant to look at, but they smell amazing and make a great cookie!

Health Benefits

The up front, in your face, benefit of lavender is to reduce stress and anxiety. Whether using lavender in topical applications, or if you make yourself a nice lavender tea, the antioxidants found within this aromatic herb can have smoothing impacts to the endocrine system. In the most simplest terms, lavender can help send little messages through the release of hormones in the body that says, “Keep calm. Chill. Relax. Sleep. This too shall pass.” Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but you get the point.

Another benefit of lavender is to help hair health, including hair loss. Hmm… come to think of it, hair loss can be due to stress, lack in nutrition, illness, etc. So, let’s do the math: Stress + Anxiety = Hair Loss. Hair Loss + Lavender x Regiment = Hair Growth. Other than letting go of the stress, lavender oil, or steeped lavender, applied to the hair can promote hair growth. You can seek out lavender shampoo, but be cautious of shampoo that contain harsh chemicals.

Uses

You may already be aware of the multiple uses of lavender. You see it is products all over the place, such as soaps, bath salts, candles, tea, and potpourri, but my favorite use is in culinary creations.

My sister gave me Martha Stewart’s Cookies book as a gift, which I absolutely love and highly recommend for those cookie baking lovers.

The one recipe that is so versatile is the sugar cookie recipe. I have deviated from the recipe many times using other citrus fruits, testing different flours, or adding in cacao powder, but most recently, I have taken this recipe, added a touch more lemon juice and zest than the recipe calls for, because I can and I LOVE the taste of lemon, and added 1 – 2 TBSP of lavender flowers… and instead of using sanding sugar this time, I used sugar crystals, because that is what I had in my pantry. These cookies were AMAZING! I strongly encourage you play around with lavender in your baking. You will not be sorry.

Did you know…

Lavender is part of the mint family. Who knew?! Some believe that lavender is derived from Old French lavandre, which is derived from the Latin word, lavare, meaning “to wash.”

For those who want to deter pests, lavender wards off mice, flies, mosquitoes and other pests, which is one of the main reasons why I planted lavender in the garden in the first place, as well as lemongrass and citronella. I love to garden, but do not really care for getting eaten alive by bugs.