What would Martha Stewart do?

September 15, 2018 11:18 AM

I bought this gift bag filled with lavender-scented goodies at the farmer's market primarily for the oil and dried lavender. It came with these (what I assume are) dried stems. What do I do with the stems? Are they purely decorative?
posted by onecircleaday to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: Those look like a reed diffuser setup. You put some drops of oil on the reeds and set them in a jar or vase in the room that you’d like to perfume with lavender.
posted by corey flood at 12:06 PM on September 15, 2018

Best answer: They're lavender stems-- they still smell like lavender. You could probably use them like a reed diffuser but I'm not sure how well they'd transfer the oil, but you could just put them somewhere decorative and they'll perfume the place a bit. They're like potpourri only less messy. They take the flowers and leaves off because 1. they use them to make the other scented stuff and 2. that way they don't shed bits all over the place.
posted by The otter lady at 12:51 PM on September 15, 2018

Best answer: Lavender stems. You can use them exactly like The otter lady said. Soak them in water then throw them on the coals when grilling for lovely subtle lavender flavor or use them as grilling skewers.
posted by wwax at 1:33 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, thanks everyone! I almost threw them out!
posted by onecircleaday at 2:14 PM on September 15, 2018