I suspect that I’m not the only Green Witch that had an aha moment at some point in my life that I could have been eating flowers THIS WHOLE TIME. I’ve experimented a lot with edible flowers in many forms – from my favorite midsummer ritual of infusing tequila with Hibiscus, to making my own Rosewater, to eating and decorating with Pansies for fairy-themed parties. There was that one time that we made Dandelion wine, too.
Of all of these, Violets remain among my favorites. Maybe it’s the color but there is absolutely nothing more magical than that blue hue that comes from purple violets. And then, add some citrus and watch it turn purple or sometimes even a bright fuchsia. Talk about magic!
They also grow abundantly here in Southern New England.
To me Violets are the first tastes of spring – they awaken something inside of you after the long slumber of winter. Like many early spring flowers, they have the energy of resurrection and renewal. A lot of sources will list them as good for “love” but that seems, to me, to be a misattribution of the mild aphrodisiac effect that many experience after consuming it. I find Violet to be kind and soothing – its fun to just lie down in the fields among her blossoms! She looks good, she feels good, and she tastes great! She is the bliss of springtime.
To make violet syrup, you need to source yourself some violets. 2-3 lightly packed cups of fresh blossoms will do nicely. Please remember to observe good food safety for yourself (don’t pick from road ditches or in cemeteries where the flowers might have leached chemicals out of the ground) and respect for your environment (don’t steal from your neighbors and leave some for the bees!).
Effectively, the first step of this recipe is to make violet tea. Boil one cup of water and then let sit for five minutes – this is so that you don’t burn the color out of the violets with the boiling water. Let the violets steep for 12-24 hours, the longer they steep, the better the color and flavor. If you have white violets, it’s fine, they just won’t impart the strong blue color of their purple siblings.
Once you’re violets have steeped, you need to strain them out of the water. As you can see, my tea was a beautiful deep blue “indigo” color. This is totally normal, we’ll bring the purple color back later in the process.
Next, take your cup of violet tea and combine it with 2 cups of sugar on a VERY LOW HEAT to make a complex syrup. This will take a while – be patient. Do not increase the heat as this will burn the color out of your syrup and (I at least) think that the color is a wonderful addition to this recipe. You want to stir this until the water becomes see through again. Your syrup will most likely still be blue though as you can see, the sugar turned mine back to a lighter shade more reminiscent of violet.
If your violet syrup is too blue, you can add a dash of lemon juice to it to color it purple again. Be careful here – a little goes a long way – I made the mistake of trying it with a bit and turning it bright pink, not violet at all!
Then, let you violet syrup cool on the counter. This is so that the sugar doesn’t crash back out of the mixture, undoing all of your hard work. When cool, store in an air tight container in your fridge – complex syrup can keep for up to 2-3 months.
What should you do with your violet syrup? It can be used in Spring cocktail recipe, as a drizzle over pancakes or waffles, or in any other culinary way that you see fit! It is sweet and floral and pairs well with gins as showed below.
