In the spring and early summer, our yard fills with hundreds of blooming wild violets. If I cared about having an immaculate lawn, I would be furious. That of course would make me a total tool since immaculate lawns are terrible for the environment and a giant waste of time. However I am not a tool (at least in this way) so what I care about is delicious violet syrup. So I am thrilled! It's not an invasive broad leaf weed, it is a beautiful food-giving flower!
Wild violets are a delicious flower that you can use for more foodstuffs than I even know about: tea, vinegar, jelly, icing, candied flowers, raw in salads, etc. They are high in Vitamin A, C and other vitamins and minerals. They are antifungal, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. But please keep in mind that too many violets will make you poop a lot, so mind the amount that you ingest. Just be reasonable, as it should not be a problem unless you make tea or flavored water and way drink too much of it. Too much of any good thing is often a bad thing.
No, that is not why we call them viole(n)t. That is just because popping the heads off flowers to eat them seemed disproportionally violent to me.
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| Eat me (it would not be wise to drink me). |
One of the easiest, tastiest and most versatile uses for wild violets is to make violet syrup. It takes a day to make, but very little actual hands-on time. It just requires a fair amount of picking those tiny little flower heads, and then soaking time.
If you are picking wild violets, this means a lot of bending or crawling around. This is why it is a great idea to solicit help from people. Do you have kids? GREAT send them into your yard. Tell them they'll get like a dollar a pail of violet heads or something. Then you can get started on drinking vodka inside. I mean, you can get started preparing the bowl and water. Because that takes so much work to get out a glass bowl and boil some water. You'd better drink some vodka to prepare for it.
Once you have picked your fill of violet flower heads (you don't want stems or leaves if you are making syrup), you just rinse them off and cover them in boiling water. Then 24 hours later you strain out the flowers, then add sugar and then pack it up. Seriously, it is only the picking that is awful. So don't hurt yourself, take breaks as needed, and take some NSAIDs when you are done. The actual making of the syrup is easy. Link to instructions at the bottom of this post.
The flavor is best described as "flowery purple sugar." I am sorry. It is just so good and so unique that I can't think of a better description. The smell is delightful, as a hundred flowers boiled into sugar should. I might not have a sophisticated enough pallet to do the description justice.
Last year I made viole(n)t syrup and put it in just about every treat and food that didn't sound disgusting. One of my favorite was using it in place of lime in a Moscow Mule. This made the Moscow Mule my favorite drink for months! With good ginger beer and vodka, it gave it a wonderful flowery taste instead of citrus.
Another major win was putting the syrup in and on top of ice cream. The flavor of the ice cream is so light and flowery that it adds a bit of relaxation to the treat. It actually was reminiscent of several purple candies from my childhood. However it was also amazing on the top of vanilla ice cream. The two flavors together were something special. Do yourself a favor if you make this syrup and try it.
Have I sold you on trying this? I've put detailed instructions HERE.
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