Chestnut Herbal School

Lavender's Medicinal and Aromatherapy Uses and a Recipe for Lavender Truffles

Written and Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor

A bee visiting lavender (Lavandula spp.)

There are few scents in this world that evoke the feeling of clean – lavender is one of them. Its common and scientific name originates from lavare, the Latin word for wash or bathe. In addition to this fresh quality, lavender is a bitter herb that supports healthy digestion, a gentle nervine sedative that soothes the nervous system, and a topical remedy with a range of applications. In this article, we’ll discuss lavender’s medicinal and aromatherapy uses in detail, plus we’ll share a decadent recipe for Lavender Truffles.

Lavender was popular as a linen-washing herb in Europe, no doubt due to its pleasant aroma, but it also possesses antiseptic qualities and can help to keep insects at bay. Discouraging or killing insects was paramount before the invention of glass windows and screens, a time when humans often shared the same roof with flea and lice-ridden livestock. Maude Grieve writes in A Modern Herbal (no longer especially modern, as it was written in 1931):

“Dried Lavender flowers are still greatly used to perfume linen, their powerful, aromatic odour acting also as a preventative to the attacks of moths and other insects. In America, they find very considerable employment for disinfecting hotrooms and keeping away flies and mosquitoes, who do not like the scent. Oil of Lavender, on cotton-wool, tides in a little bag or in a perforated ball hung in the room, is said to keep it free from all flies.”

Lavender (Lavandula spp.) flowers.

Lavender (Lavandula spp.) flowers.

Our noses do not betray us when they register lavender’s aroma as clean and refreshing; studies have demonstrated lavender’s inherent anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Lavender is extremely popular as a sachet herb; I like to combine it with white sage and cypress needles in mesh bags and place them in my drawers and closet. Many fast food chain restaurants have begun to place lavender sachets in their HVAC systems in lieu of chemical air fresheners. OK, that was totally a lie, but perhaps in the future it will be true….

There are thirty-nine species of lavender (Lavandula spp.), most are native to Eastern Europe, northern Africa, the Mediterranean and western Asia. Lavender is in the mint family (Lamiaceae), as evidenced by its bilabiate flowers, aromatic oils, opposite leaves and square stem. Lavender has been used medicinally for centuries as a remedy for digestive issues, headaches, grief and stress. How many herbs can claim to have flowers which inspired the name of a color?!

Lavandula angustifolia, often called English lavender even though it is native to the Mediterranean, is the most common species grown and used medicinally. The species name angustifolia means “narrow leaf.” Former scientific names include Lavandula officinalis and Lavandula vera.

Bees and many other insects frequent lavender; its flowers are often abuzz in the growing season. Lavender’s nectar yields a choice varietal honey.

 

Lavender (Lavandula spp.) growing near a stone wall.

Lavender (Lavandula spp.) growing near a stone wall.

How to Grow Lavender

Lavender is a short-lived perennial and prefers full sun with well-drained soil and ample airflow. If your native soil doesn’t drain well, try adding gravel or rocks to the soil. I add river sand (coarser sand), along with organic matter (decomposed manure), to break up our heavy clay soil. Try mulching with sand, light-colored gravel or oyster shells if you live near the sea. High humidity and cold wet winters can be problematic. Ask your local herbal nursery which varieties or cultivars grow best in your area.

Lavender can be grown from seed, but it is typically propagated from cuttings for a number of reasons. The cultivars need to be propagated asexually (cuttings) as they wont come true from seed. In addition, growing lavender from seed is much slower going than from cuttings. The seed will germinate better if stratified for one month prior to planting. Lavender prefers a more neutral pH, around 7.0 is ideal. Lavandula angustifolia is typically cold hardy to zone 6, although there are varieties that can tolerate colder temperatures- ‘Munstead’ is hardy to zone 5.

Lavender is popular as a low-maintenance xeriscape ornamental in arid climates. I was pleasantly surprised to see it growing in the median of the roadways in the Mediterranean region of Italy. There are dwarf varieties that grow 6 inches tall (12 inches in flower) but standard varieties typically grow 12 to 24 inches tall (24 to 40 inches in flower).

Making a cup of lavender tea.

Making a cup of lavender tea.

 

Lavender’s Medicinal and Aromatherapy Uses

Common Name: Lavender

Scientific name (s): Lavandula angustifolia. Other species are used medicinally, but may have a slightly different medicinal profile than outlined below. Much of the historical medicinal information from the Greeks and Libyans stems from the use of Lavandula stoechas, or French lavender.

Family: Lamiaceae

Part used:  Above ground parts in flower, or flowers

Preparation & Dosage:

  • 1-2 teaspoons (approximately .8 to 1.6 grams) of the flower or herb with flower per 8 ounces of water as an infusion, drunk up to three times a day
  • 1 dropper full of tincture (1:2 95%) up to three times a day

Actions: carminative, sedative, bitter, antidepressant, hypnotic, cholagogue, anti-microbial

Energetics: bitter, drying, cooling

Indications/Usages:

Nervine: Lavender is a gentle sedative and can help with anxiety, stress and insomnia. It is often used in formula for the herbal treatment of depression as it has more immediate effects as compared to many of the slower-acting tonic antidepressants and adaptogens. I combine lavender with lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora) in tea to help lift the spirits. Lavender is also used to alleviate grief; it is often paired with the flowers of hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), rose (Rosa spp.), and mimosa (Albizia julibrissin).

Lavender is a traditional remedy for headaches; both internally as a tea and externally as an essential oil, rubbed into the temples.

Digestive: Lavender is slightly bitter and many herbalists use it as a hepatic and bile stimulant. It is also carminative and anti-inflammatory. Safe for children and the elderly, it can be used in the treatment of intestinal gas, irritable bowel syndrome, and nausea. Other gentle digestive aids, used in a similar vein, are catnip (Nepeta cataria), chamomile (Matricaria recutita), and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis).

 

 

Michael Moorisms:

 

  • Rejuvenating, skin stimulating bath – pregnancy, bed ridden
  • Equal parts: Symphytum leaf, Thymus leaf, M. piperita, Lavandula flowers + Matricaria flowers
  • Aura state for migraines, especially after too much sun

Notes: The flavor of lavender tea is stronger than one might expect: slightly bitter, mildly astringent and very aromatic. A little goes a long way. Try combining it with rose petals, mint, chamomile or passionflower for insomnia and decompression. I prefer the external use of essential oil or the ingestion of tea rather than the tincture, but the tincture is serviceable for those who avoid tea and essential oils.

Topical use: A strong infusion of the flowers is made into a sitz bath to heal tears in the perineum from childbirth; combine with calendula flowers (Calendula officinalis), chickweed (Stellaria media), and witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Lavender infusion is sometimes used as a douche for vaginal yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis. Sage leaf (Salvia officinalis) and calendula (Calendula officinalis) are welcome additions to this tea. After herbal treatment for vaginal infections, insert two capsules of acidophilus low in the vaginal canal at night just before bed (so they will stay in and melt). Unsweetened live yogurt can be substituted for the acidophilus pills. Both treatments help in replenishing healthy populations of vaginal flora displaced by the anti-microbial douching and infection.

Contra-indications/ Side effects: None known, although its tonic use may be constitutionally inappropriate. For example, if you have very dry skin and mucus membranes the long-term internal use of lavender may be too drying.

Robert Tisserand’s thorough description of lavender’s safety in pregnancy and breast-feeding

Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Lavender (Lavandula spp.)

Lavender essential oil imparts peace, relaxation, and healing

Lavender essential oil is used topically as an anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, hypnotic, and anxiolytic herb. Lavender essential oil is always in my first aid kit, car, and travel bag. It is one of the few essential oils that can be used topically without dilution, but it is always prudent to initially try a small amount of the oil on the inside of the arm and watch for 24 hours to see if there is any reaction. After cleaning out and disinfecting scrapes and cuts, I use lavender as an all-purpose anti-microbial. I also employ it to help ease the itch and swelling of mosquito and chigger bites. Lavender is applied topically on sunburn and first-degree burns; I like to rub fresh aloe vera gel on the afflicted area and then add a couple drops of lavender essential oil.

Lavender essential oil can be rubbed into the temples along with diluted peppermint essential oil for headaches. A couple drops on the pillow can help ease a busy mind into dreamland. For children that have trouble relaxing into sleep, try adding two to four drops of the essential oil into the bedtime bath.

Finally, I like to use lavender essential oil to freshen up my car (can a motor vehicle really ever feel fresh?!)

 

Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles Recipe.

Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles Recipe.


Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles Recipe

Whether you're a seasoned chocolatier or a novice in the kitchen, prepare to be enchanted by the allure of these Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles. Each bite is a journey into a world of indulgent pleasure, where calories are infinite and the experience is nothing short of divine. Naughty or nice? You tell me.
Course Dessert
Yield 2 dozen or so

Equipment

  • Immersion blender (or whisk)
  • Parchment paper
  • Double boiler (or two nested pans)
  • Strainer

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • cup honey
  • 11 ounces of 72% chocolate -Weight, not volume measurement. Use a scale or look on the label.
  • ½ cup lavender flowers -Volume. Use a measuring cup.
  • 5 tablespoons room temperature butter
  • 1 cup cocoa powder and/or shredded coconut

Directions
 

  • Pull your butter out of the refrigerator so it can come to room temperature.
  • Place your cream in a double boiler. Don’t have one? Improvise with two nested pans, the bottom one filled with water and the top one lifted off the bottom by the handle. You can also place two mason jar lid rings on the bottom pot to keep the upper one aloft.
  • Heat the cream until you see steam rising but its not yet boiling. It shouldn’t be much hotter than your favorite Hot Springs (or 115 degrees F, if you haven’t had the joy of soaking in hot springs).
  • Add the lavender; turn off the heat and let sit for 13 minutes.
  • Strain the lavender while warm and press out as much of the liquid as possible. The lavender will soak up a quarter of the cream. (Perhaps you will reclaim it in a cup of tea).
  • Place your lavender-infused cream and honey back in the double boiler and heat it back up to 115 F.
  • Heat up your chocolate similarly (the chocolate needs to be just fully melted).
  • When all is good and melted, slowly marry the cream/honey with the chocolate, while blending with an immersion blender (or using sheer brawn to whisk). Both the chocolate and the cream need to be warm enough to emulsify, but not too warm or things will melt and get wonky, not truffley.
  • Now slowly add the room temperature butter. Keep blending until your mixture resembles glossy chocolate pudding.
  • Place the mixture in a pie pan lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for an hour.
  • Have your cocoa powder ready in a shallow pan. Run your hands under very cold water (so they don’t melt the chocolate as you are shaping the truffles).
  • Scoop off a large teaspoon of chocolate and form into a ball. Dip the ball into the cocoa powder and place on a parchment paper-lined shallow pan. Repeat. You may need to run your hands under cold water multiple times.
  • Refrigerate the finished truffles and they should last for a few weeks (with expert discipline).

Notes

Big thanks to Jade Chenoa for her expert instruction and for sharing her tried and true truffle recipes!
Keyword Lavender, Truffles
Tried this recipe or have questions?Leave a comment!

Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles Recipe.

Divinely Naughty Lavender Truffles Recipe.

Meet The Green Mastermind Behind Blog Castanea

Juliet Blankespoor

JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business. 

These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.

Interested in becoming a contributor?

 

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Learn more about cultivation, identification, and uses for medicinal herbs in our 1,000-hour Herbal Immersion Program, which is the most comprehensive handcrafted online herbal course out there.

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33 thoughts on “Lavender’s Medicinal and Aromatherapy Uses and Lavender Truffles

  1. This blog has become an invaluable resource for me in understanding alternative approaches to managing depression. Thank you for providing such insightful and empowering content.

  2. Was just wondering if anyone had any recipes for lavender white chocolate blueberry scones. I had one at a small Teahouse right outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Have looked everywhere, and I’ve got some great lavender for cooking I would love to try out. BTW always hated scones until I had the ones mentioned above.

  3. thnx shara for givng such a intresting information abut lavendula …..it was helpfull note to me in my xams thank very much and keep givng such a kind of info abut such intresting topics may God bless u

  4. Thank you, very interesting and helpful information. I’m looking for a good source for buying Flax seeds and Sesame seeds, would also like to buy essential oils etc. I would appreciate the help. Thank you, Trish Elkins

    • Trish,
      Flax and sesame seeds are available at any health food store, if you dont have one near you, Im sure you could order them on-line. Check out our links page for all kinds of herbal businesses, many of which sell essential oils.
      Warmly,
      JUliet

  5. Oh, and did I mention that I have also been reading a book on pregnancy and birth? “The Women Who Went Away” a must read for anyone working with women’s sexuality or interested in Women’s History. My husband says I was having sympathy pains. Moderation Mollie. Moderation! We live in a culture (and I am not exempt) that thinks if a little is good, a whole lot more is a whole lot better. Thank you for reading my chapter on Lavender. She has so much to teach us at this time.

  6. Thank you for a great blog! I love Lavender. So much in fact that I over used it for a couple of months, and lo and behold, after 5 years with no menstruation ~ I ovulated! May need to post a warning for that one! Luckily, I used natural birth control for most of my fertile adult life and knew the signs, unmistakable. You can also read more about the Elemental and Spiritual nature of Lavender in my book, Wisdom of the Plant Devas: Herbal Medicine for a New Earth, available everywhere. There is still much we don’t know about plants (and their essential oils) and some of the literature I reviewed (but wasn’t well substantiated so I’ve never referred to it in my professional posts or book) mentions a study in which prepubescent males were overexposed to lavender and developed excess breast tissue. That’s why we need these kinds of blogs and sharing of knowledge and information.

    • Wow, that is quite the story about ovulating after 5 years – what form of lavender were you using? I looked into the estrogenic or endocrine-disrupting claims around lavender essential oil (See the link in the post under aromatherapy for Robert Tisserand’s take on the issue). There were three boys who developed gynecomastia (breast growth in males) who were using lavender and tea tree essential oils in undisclosed body products. The researchers tested both essential oils (source undisclosed) and found them to be pro-estrogenic in vitro. Given the fact that many chemicals used in body care products are known endocrine disruptors, I find it more likely to be the other ingredients in the products. It is also notable that one of the boys had a twin brother using the same products that did not develop gynecomastia. Given the widespread use of lavender essential oil in an manner of products, and the longterm historical use, I find it doubtful that it is a potent endocrine disruptor or phytoestrogen. And I am open to being wrong and learning something new!!! I did find a few historical references on lavender being an emmenagogue, even though its not typically used as such in contemporary herbal medicine. I welcome discussion on the subject!!!

      • You are referring to the same study. I was using a lotion on my body daily containing lavender essential oil, an underarm deodorant with the same, I was also diffusing it, taking baths in it, burning it as smudge, baking it in my cornbread, using it in herbes de provence, and occasionally applying it in its neat form as a perfume. Ok, I admit it. I was on a Lavender kick. And I grow it in my garden. But besides the possibility of it being an endocrine disruptor, you have to consider its other actions that could possibly be responsible. I am thinking, and would love your take on this, that it could have relieved some pelvic congestion and stimulated ovulation due to its antispasmodic, antidepressant, mild emmenagogue, hypotoensive, and nervine actions. All of this in combination must have been enough to set me off as I was clearly over using it. If you think about it, we don’t really know what this kind of use is capable of because historically it wasn’t used in this quantity, in this form, directly on the skin. Essential oils, unfortunately, are being overused.

      • The suspicion of endocrine disruption related to “other ingredients” is well founded. It continues to be common to use added synthetic “oils” to most steam distilled essential oils. The most common of these added oils has been phthalates such as Diethyl and Dibutyl and Dioctyl phthalate (DEP, DBT, DOT). These are colorless, odorless oils and often used in different combinations to help trap volatile fragrance components of essential oils so that the scent lasts longer.
        Phthalates are well known endocrine disruptors. DBT is one of the strongest endocrine disruptors.The ability of DBT to affect the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) pathway (testicular effects) is reported in the article below and is potentially responsible for developmental defects of any immature organism (in your example boys) due to endocrine disruption.
        Furthermore, any essential oil or cosmetic product even if labeled “natural” or “certified organic” or “phthalate-free” could contain phthalates (possibly even > 50% by weight) unless the label reads “100% certified organic”. That is the only way to be certain that the product contains no phthalates.

        http://www.sehn.org/Endocrine_Disruption.html

        Phthlate use: http://vikasorganics.com/products.html
        (Note, confusion control: the word organic in the company name above has nothing to do with “organic” as relates to naturally produced , the word organic here is used only to denote synthetic hydrocarbon products as is used in the vocabulary of chemists.)

  7. Co-incidences abound today–lavender related. I read the whole Lavenderchapter in Thea Summer Deer’s Wisdom of the Plant Devas book, (first slathered lavender on myself), then I stumble on your post of the day. Ahhhh.

  8. Hey Juliet!
    I always love me a new truffle recipe, especially one that is naughty! Do you think I could use ghee in place of the butter? I have not done that before, but wondered if you have tried it. Lavender blessings to you!

  9. Samantha Cattell says:

    What a great post. I enjoyed reading and chuckling!! Thankyou for this wonderful recipe. The photographs are stunning. I LOVE LAVENDER!!

  10. Hi there,
    I am not a botanist or a herbalist, but I find great joy in your posts. They are artistically beautiful, full of great information, and just make me feel good. Thank you for putting such time and care into your work- it is appreciated down here in Gainesville!
    Love,
    Sarah

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