Lovely Lavender

Chef Terri Milligan with lavender-lemon cupcakes.

How does a lavender farm get the word out about its fragrant herb? It partners with a well-known local chef to offer a first-hand cooking experience. That is exactly what Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm & Shop, a newly opened lavender farm and shop on Washington Island did on Friday, Aug. 1 when Door County chef Terri Milligan showed guests three different ways to use lavender to prepare a light summer lunch.

First, though, it’s important to understand that lavender is part of the mint family and has a lot of camphor oil in it, which gives the herb its pulsating aroma. As a result, there are two kinds of lavender used in cooking. One is culinary lavender, the bluish purple flower buds used in drinks, salad dressings and baking. Fragrant Isle co-owner Martine Anderson says, “Using culinary lavender is a little like icing on the cake – very flavorful.”

And she’s right – the buds give a sweet, aromatic taste to baked goods. Add a bit of lavender food dye for color and the presentation is visually appealing. But culinary lavender would be too overpowering to use with meats, so the buds are blended with rosemary, thyme, savory and fennel in a mixture called Herbes de Provence.

As Milligan begins showing the audience how to make lavender lemonade she tells us, “I’m a kind of Julia Child’s cook – I just go for it.” She is referring to her tendency not to measure, but to taste. The sweet lilac-colored beverage is a perfect complement to the light lavender and honey vinaigrette drizzled over a layer of vibrant greens and topped with an orange nasturtium flower. But the audience favorite was the yellow cupcakes injected with blueberry-lavender jam and frosted with lavender-tinted buttercream frosting.

Milligan says her greatest rewards since leaving The Inn at Kristofer’s in Sister Bay is “just getting out in public and making new friends…having more relaxation time to kayak, hike and enjoy the beauty of Door County.”

Greens with lavender and honey vinaigrette.

Though Milligan received her bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communication from Marquette University and a master’s degree in mass communication from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, it was her shift to the culinary field and her tenure at The Inn at Kristofer’s that defined her career for the next 26 years. As the only woman in the restaurant kitchen back in the late 1980s she became the go-to dessert chef where she developed her signature merengue swans, which she still makes for special requests.

Mostly though, these days Milligan has primarily traded in her chef hat for a writer’s hat writing food articles and developing and testing recipes for various publications including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Edible Door magazine. And of course, she does recipe demonstrations like this recent one on lavender at Fragrant Isle to interact with the public, share a few of her cooking secrets, and inspire ordinary cooks like myself.

Bon appetite!

For more information on lavender at Fragrant Isle visit fragrantisle.com. For recipes by Chef Terri Milligan visit chefterrimilligan.com.