Simple Lavender Ice Cream– no refined sugar

It takes only 5 ingredients to concoct this lavender ice cream! Subtle, elegant, and not-too-sweet, this fairly healthy ice cream recipe requires no refined sugar and is naturally gluten free. Instructions for dairy free ice cream included!

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If you have never eaten anything flavored with lavender, lavender ice cream might strike you as odd. After all, isn’t lavender used to make soap?!

Yes, it is. The word “lavender” comes from the Latin word “laver”, the root word for “lavar” in Spanish, “laver” in French, and “lavare” in Italian, all meaning “to wash”. Lavender, with its antibacterial properties, has been used in cleaning for a long time.

However, lavender has other uses. Some of these uses are culinary. One delectable culinary use of lavender is ice cream! With a few other ingredients, you can make a simple ice cream flavored with lavender buds.

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What Does Lavender Ice Cream Taste Like?

While lavender can be used for assorted dishes, such as in herbes de Provence, a blend of herbs native to Provence in southern France and used in savory applications, this is a sweet use of lavender. Well, ice cream is usually sweet…

Lavender ice cream does not taste like soap, you may be relieved to know.

It also doesn’t taste like flowers, even though it is flavored mainly with flower buds.

It doesn’t really taste like vanilla, though I like to include vanilla. The vanilla is optional, actually.

Lavender ice cream is indescribable. The flavor is delicate. Maybe a bit refined. It is quite distinctive, unlike familiar flavors. It isn’t like vanilla in taste, but it is similarly mild, while completely changing the flavor of the ice cream without being overpowering.

I will say, unlike vanilla, which seems universally popular, lavender is hit-or-miss. We are a family divided on the virtue of lavender as an ice cream flavor. Here is the breakdown:

• 2 immediate “double thumbs up with big puffy hearts”
• 1 “This is weird” followed by “Is there more? This is really good.”
• 1 “It’s not really terrible.”
• 1 never-lavender-ice-cream

You can’t get big wins every time. Lavender seems to be one of those flavors in a special love-it-or-hate-it class, like cilantro and cardamom. Not the crowd-pleaser everybody requests. (I’m looking at you, tiramisu ice cream!)

Come to think of it, I have heard lavender, cilantro, and cardamom all described as soapy-tasting by their detractors. Even though they are nothing like one another… And I love all of them, so I wouldn’t know.

How do you get lavender flowers?

If you don’t have any lavender growing, you can purchase culinary lavender. Local farms and farmers’ markets may offer it in season, and you can buy little jars of it in the spice sections at grocery stores.

You need only a tablespoon of lavender buds to make this recipe, so a jar from the store might work out fine. If you aren’t sure you will like lavender as an ingredient, a small quantity might be wise to start.

I bought bag of organic, food-grade (culinary) lavender buds years ago and have been storing them in Mason jars and slowly using them ever since. They seem to retain their flavor well. I don’t remember the brand, but it was something like this.

Just be sure to use culinary or food grade lavender, and not lavender that has been treated with something inedible. Some bulk lavender is for crafts, and you don’t want that. Though you could use culinary lavender for projects like making sachets.

What else can I do with lavender buds?

Not sure how to use lavender buds once you have them?

• make lavender lemonade– just add a teaspoon or more of lavender buds to the hot water with the sugar when making lemonade, then strain them out after 5 minutes or so
• make a plain lavender tea, possibly adding lemon and/or honey
• combine lavender with other herbs for tea (lemon balm, peppermint, raspberry leaf, etc.)
• make baked goods with it, like these cookies or these scones
• mix up your own jar of herbes de Provence for savory dishes
• try a hot or iced lavender Earl Grey latte

How to Make Lavender Ice Cream

This is easy, but it requires a little time. We are going to gently heat some milk with the lavender in it. Then it needs to cool before we churn it into ice cream.

Infuse lavender flavor

Measure out 2 cups of milk (I used dairy milk, but coconut milk is also excellent) and a tablespoon of lavender buds. Bring them to a simmer. Try to avoid boiling the milk. We will strain it later, so if you accidentally boil it and get some weird bits, don’t worry. Turn the heat off once the milk is good and hot.

I like to let the milk and lavender cool a bit before adding raw honey. The reason is that the honey, if it is raw, provides some health benefits I want to preserve. So, you can let the lavender steep and the mixture cool for 15 minutes or so, then stir in the honey and vanilla. Chill well.

Typically, I do the infusing step in the evening, while making dinner, and then make the ice cream in the morning. You don’t have to do it that way, of course. You do want to give the milk and lavender a good while to flavor the milk. Also, you want the milk to be really cold.

Make the ice cream

When ready to make the ice cream, I strain the lavender buds out of the milk. It often has a sort of ugly color; don’t worry about that. It will end up white/cream colored. Then I add 2 cups of cold cream and churn in the ice cream maker as usual.

I don’t bother coloring the ice cream– it turns out whitish– but you could. Especially if there is a purple-loving girl in your life. Or if you are the purple-loving girl…

If you aren’t keen on artificial color, you could try this more natural brand or experiment with making your own color using red cabbage. Take a look at these ideas for making your own benign colorings.

My old, no-longer-made ice cream maker is still going strong, and I see its cousins in thrift shops regularly. If you want a machine but it isn’t in the budget, you may be able to get a new or nearly-new one secondhand. Something like this would be what I would consider if purchasing brand new.

Questions and Answers

Can I make lavender ice cream dairy free?

Yes! I have made this ice cream with 2 cans of coconut milk with excellent results. I infused the lavender into just one can, chilled the other, and then combined them to make the ice cream.

You could do both cans together with the lavender buds. I did just the one can because I had only a small saucepan available to use!

Be sure the fat is smoothly distributed through the mixture before churning. If you have lumps, use a hand mixer or blender to mix them back in.

Can I add egg yolks?

You can, though I haven’t in this particular recipe. I recommend 4-6 raw egg yolks– from pastured eggs– for both nutrition and texture. Not only will they make your ice cream richer, they will also make it easier to scoop after hours in the freezer.

Do I have to use honey?

No. I like to use honey for its health benefits, as well as because it makes the ice cream easier to scoop. It isn’t vital to the flavor. You could use sugar or maybe try a sugar substitute you like in ice cream.

Will it work to infuse the lavender into the cream instead of the milk?

I haven’t done it, but probably so. You could also combine the milk and cream with the lavender, heat, chill, and churn. Probably.

Can I make this on the GAPS diet?

You shouldn’t make this recipe with milk and cream while on the GAPS diet. Only cultured milk and cream! Unlike most ice cream recipes, I don’t really recommend making this one with cultured dairy. The flavor is not right, in my opinion.

You could, however, use coconut milk to make the lavender ice cream and still be GAPS compliant. That is an excellent way to make it! Technically, you should use fresh coconut milk (from a coconut) on GAPS. I used 2 cans of coconut milk without gums or stabilizers, which is not the ideal GAPS practice.

There you go! Lavender ice cream is an unusual and delightful flavor to try!

Maybe with a hot or iced lavender Earl Grey latte!

Don’t sprinkle lavender buds on your ice cream. It looks sort of cute for a picture, but it isn’t fun to eat that way.