Lavender and Raspberry Jam

I grow raspberries in my garden and have lots of wild blackberries – plus I have an amazing neighbor who is very generous with her raspberries. So its no wonder that I LOVE making jam! Its sooo much easier than most people think. I was lucky to grow up spending a lot of time with my grandma, who taught me to make jam, bread, scones, soup etc… but even if you didn’t, you can still make your own jam. 

Adding just a touch of lavender gives a delightful edge to this jam. Make it with good quality berries – not old ones that you wouldn’t eat fresh. 

Double or triple the recipe if you have more berries!

3 cups fresh raspberries

3 cups sugar (I use organic dehydrated cane sugar)

1-teaspoon organic fresh lavender

Prepare your jars (I use ball canning jars and put them in the oven at 250 degrees F for 30 minutes then handle carefully with a cloth so you don’t burn yourself!)

Place berries, lavender, and sugar in a large pot and heat gently until raspberries release their juice.

Stir until sugar dissolves.

Increase heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes.

Ladle jam into your hot jars and place lids on. Leave to cool – don’t move around or you can affect your seal. Remember that the jars and jam are hot!

This jam takes a couple of days to firm up. If you don’t get a good seal on your lids, put the jam in the freezer and keep it as freezer jam, otherwise its good to store for up to a year.

 

 

ACHS Lavender Distillation Workshop at Sherwood Lavender Farm: Photographs

Lavender and Lavender Essential Oil from our Distillation Workshop

Lavandula stoechas or Spanish Lavender

Lavandula stoechas is also called Spanish lavender and rabbit ear lavender due to the little rabbit ear bracts on the top (see the pic below). It has a piney, antiseptic fragrance, and is not usually used in cooking or for medicinal purposes. L. stoecahse flowers earlier than other lavenders, in the late spring, and should be pruned after flowering. It tends to perform better than L. angustifolia (English lavender) in areas that are hot and humid, such as the Oregon coast, where it is a popular ornamental.

Today I saw a post on a lavender list that said that Lavandula stoechas could be used medicinally and for cosmetics. Strangely I’d just been explaining this issue to a friend who had stoechas in her garden, so I thought it worth a blog post!

Please don’t think these two species are interchangeable! Lavandula stoechas is quite different than English lavender and can even be toxic in high enough doses. Its very high in ketones and camphor and has a very different chemistry than L. angustifolia (syn. L. officinalis, syn. L. vera) (which is the variety that should be used therapeutically). Ketones are easily absorbed by the skin and are quite irritating so we would never recommend L. stoechas for cosmetics.

You can view the scanned pages from Geunther on Stoechas with the various constituents below. If you’d like to look at L. angustifolia let me know.

It is so important to distinguish the species and varietal of any botanical. I’ve seen some reports that lavender doesn’t work as a sleep aid (because a study uses L. intermedia which is high in stimulating camphor and low in relaxing linalyl acetate) or that lavender causes irritation because a variety high in ketones or camphor is used.

Here’s a case study on pubmed of someone who actually poisoned themselves with L. stoechas tea: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22760025 and the full text is available here: http://www.kjm.keio.ac.jp/past/61/2/66.pdf
You’ll notice the title of that case study: “Anticholinergic Syndrome and Supraventricular Tachycardia Caused by Lavender Tea Toxicity” would make the average reader thing that all lavender is similarly toxic – when its extremely likely that it was the variety (L. stoechas) that caused the problem.

This is a great opportunity to remind ourselves that even if plants share common names, or are even the same species, they can still have very different chemistry and therefore their appropriate uses and toxicity can vary widely. Always be sure you know what the safe varieties are to use and that you have correctly identified your plant before you use it to make tea or any other product. If you’re in doubt, simply enjoy looking at it in your garden…

Best Wishes,
Erika Yigzaw
ACHS CIO and Master Gardener

Oil of LAVANDULA STOECHAS L.

Lavandula stoechas or Spanish Lavender

American College of Healthcare Sciences invites you to Sherwood Lavender Farm for a Lavender Distillation Workshop.

American College of Healthcare Sciences invites you to Sherwood Lavender Farm for a Lavender Distillation Workshop.

Saturday, July 21: You’re invited!

Join Dorene Petersen, ACHS President and Aromatherapy Expert, and Erika Yigzaw, ACHS CIO and Master Gardener, for a fun day dedicated to lavender!

In this unique hands-on workshop we will harvest and distill fresh lavender.

Open to the public – $35 Class fee includes 27-page full color distillation workbook and bottle of lavender hydrosol.

U-pick lavender: Just $6 per bunch (or 2 bunches for $10)
>Register early by email to admissions@achs.edu or call (503) 244-0726.

Space is limited. Feel free to bring lunch and picnic on the farm grounds.

Distillation Workshop starts at 10 a.m.

Workshop located at:

Sherwood Lavender Farm
21505 SW Chapman Road
Sherwood, OR 97140

History

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Selecting Varieties

Lavender has hundreds of varieties. Its wonderful stuff, and great to have so much choice, but now I feel like a kid in a candy store, and its hard to choose! I’ll be posting about the different varieties shortly!

Planning for U-Pick

All the lavender farmers we have talked to come back to one thing: U-Pick is the backbone of your lavender farm. Oil production is glamorous but not that profitable. So we’ve been planning for our U-Pick customers. This involves thinking about:

1. Access
2. Parking
3. Staffing
4. Refreshments
5. Providing shade and picnic tables
6. Signs
7. Hours of Operation
8. Advertising/Marketing
   

   Cut and bundled lavender

Planning for Oil

Oil production on this boutique scale has to aim for quality. That involves selecting and caring for your plants, harvesting at the correct time, distilling carefully, and bottling and storing your oil correctly for optimal oil.

Oil in the separator

Hello world!

Welcome to our lavender blog! Here, we’ll share our steps and thoughts as we develop Sherwood Lavender Farm to the full scale operation we have planned. From acorns, great oaks do grow…