The food use of lavender is nothing new: already in the past there are examples of recipes prepared with this aromatic plant with digestive and carminative qualities.
In recent years there has been a rediscovery by cooking, Associazione Lavanda Riviera dei Fiori created, thanks to our hybridizer Franco Stalla, a particularly suitable for food use kind. Lavanda Officinalis “IMPERIA”: low in camphor and with a high content of linalool, giving a delicate flavour well suited to both sweet and salted recipes. Thanks to Lavanda “IMPERIA” it is possible to create a flavoured bread for aperitifs and appetizers paired with cheeses, vegetable or fruit jam.
Theese preparations can also be flavoured with Lavanda”IMPERIA”’s flowers: the “Amià” cheese from the Lavagé farm, the onion and lavender compote from the Omero di Ormea (CN) or the strawberry and lavender jam from the Ansaldi farm in Albenga.
Who has chosen to use it in her preparations is Valentina Ravera from “Le Delizie di Valentina”, from Paravenna (SV) who, by mixing tradition and imagination, has managed to offer lavender flavored breadsticks, cereal and lavender crackers, famous “Baci di Paravenna” with a lavender cream and much more.
Lavanda “IMPERIA” is also excellent in first courses: Del Duca artisan pasta factory has included in its catalogue Fettuccine with Lavanda della Riviera dei Fiori and red wine while chef Michele Cuomo has flavoured pizza with “IMPERIA”’s flowers.
Now let’s move on to the desserts: Baci della Riviera dei Fiori from the pastry shop La Riviera, lavender “Rundi” biscuits and pandolce from Biscottificio Gibelli, the “Tonde” and lavender nougat from Marmellateria Omero, Alberto Parascandolo, pastry chef, has created a Panariello with red wine and Lavanda “IMPERIA”. Pastry chef Alessandro Racca is not new using lavender in pastry: he recently proposed a fiordilatte ice cream made with honey and Lavanda “IMPERIA” infused in cream, decorated with dried lavender flowers .
Along- side it, the master Racca has also created a jar version of lavender fiordilatte ice cream combined with semi-candied apricots, given the perfect combination of lavender and yellow fleshed fruits. If you want to discover all the infinite proposals for the food-use of Lavanda “IMPERIA”, visit the website www.lavandarivieradeifiori.it