By Barbara Yost
The Arizona Republic

If you're feeling blue, seeing red or fretting over Code Orange, try a little lavender.

The purple-bloomed herb has long been known for its soothing properties - whether you eat it, smell it or just look at the pretty flowers, says Hallie Harron, owner of a French cooking school in Phoenix and a teacher of cooking in the Provence region of France.

French chefs have cooked with lavender for decades, Harron says, but now "it is an explosion here in this country."

"It is an antidote to the fast-paced lifestyle," says Harron, whose school in France is situated in a village on the crest of a vast field of lavender.

A century ago, lavender was the most prevalent herb in the American kitchen, says Susan Robins, a lavender grower on San Juan Island off Washington state. Rosemary, so popular today, would have been a curiosity, she says. Then, during World War I, the lavender fields in England were ravaged by a fungus. Lavender fell out of favor until modern chefs sparked a resurgence.

Herbs have become a culinary genre, Robins says, "and chefs have taken up the cause of lavender." It's one of the few herbs that cuts across the palate from savory to sweet, she says, making it appropriate for a variety of dishes.

In Santa Cruz County, Calif., 75 miles south of San Francisco, Diane Meehan's 30-year-old lavender farm sells the herb to nearby bakeries for such sweets as sugar cookies. One bakery makes lavender ravioli.

"Eeverybody has been getting on the bandwagon to grow it," she says.

When Meehan grills chicken, she places lavender sprays on the grill and lays the chicken on top. The meat is infused with a subtle flavor.

Harron's signature dishes include caramelized lavender ice cream, madeleines and a peppered beef dynamically flavored by a lavender rub.

Regina Campbell, cookbook author and host of the public television series Regina's Vegetarian Table says lavender goes especially well with fruit. Make a simple syrup of one part sugar and one part water, dissolve and steep with a tablespoon or so of lavender blossoms, then strain. Drizzle over fruit or ice cream.

"It denotes freshness, the liveliness and freshness of the color purple," Campbell says.

Lavender can be a culinary powerhouse, Harron says. At a time when many people are looking for fat and salt substitutes, lavender comes to the rescue.