Great ways Hungarians use lavender
It is lavender season, and these flowers not only smell delicious but also taste great and have amazing benefits.
Lavenders have many health benefits. They help with stress relief and relaxation as well as sleeping and headaches, they improve the immune system, and they can be used as a remedy for heart problems. Pour boiling water over a few teaspoons of dried lavender, leave it for 5-10 minutes, then filter it and enjoy.
Lavender syrup is getting quite popular, and here is how you can make some at home yourself. You will need a handful or two of dried lavender flowers, a litre of water, a kilogram of sugar, and the juice of two lemons.
Pour the water in a pot and put it on the stove, then add the sugar and bring it to a boil. Add the handfuls of lavender flowers and the juice of the lemons and let it all boil for another two minutes. Then leave it for a whole day to rest. Filter it after the day’s rest and pour it into bottles and store it in the fridge.
Lavender cookies are a delicious treat too. What you will need is a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers, 100 grams of softened butter, 50 grams of icing sugar, a packet of vanilla sugar, 150 grams of flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, and three tablespoons of vanilla extract.
Mix the sugar and the butter first, add the flour, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, flowers, and the vanilla extract. Mix the dough well together, then form little balls. Place them on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 150°C and bake for 20 minutes.
Lavender can not only be used for consumption, however, but it can also be used to protect your clothes from moths. Dry the flowers of the lavender and make or buy a small bag, fill it with the dried flowers, and tie the bag together. You could also roll the lavender in some fine linen. Put it in your drawers and wardrobe. The little bags can also be put under your pillow, in case you need some help sleeping or just love the smell of lavender.
A nice relaxing lavender bath does not sound too bad either, right? Just pour a litre of boiling water on 50 grams of lavender flowers and leave it for 10-15 minutes. Add it to your bathwater and enjoy. Alternatively, you could also put a few drops of lavender oil into your bath.
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Source: Daily News Hungary
Some extras to add: be sure that the lavender has not been chemically treated as in a lavender shop and already already dried. Dry it yourself from fresh. It could be non-ingestible if so. The syrup: it’s really good by itself with soda water or in a fancy mixed drink, maybe with a good gin, pink peppercorns or some other creative combination. And: here in Hungary, Lavender palinka is available. Also, take lavender and mix it with your favorite natural soap recipe. Heaven scent!