Last year’s batch of violet syrup.
I spent a couple of years living in Prague, Czech Republic—a place that, despite being about 4,500 miles away, is pretty similar to Minnesota. In the same way that Minnesotans flock to lakes and cabins every weekend in the summer, it’s rare to find a Czech who doesn’t have a family cottage they visit as often as the weather is nice enough to do so.
I worked as a nanny and English tutor for the young children of a couple who owned one such cottage, and during my second summer in the republic, they invited me to join them there for a weekend. It was tucked away in the Jizera Mountains, surrounded by forests that boasted an incredible bounty of wildflowers, mushrooms, and blueberries. Being outdoors is the national pastime of the Czech Republic, especially when the outdoors are filled with things to pick and forage. “Czechs are pickers,” explained Riana, the mother of the two girls I cared for, as we combed through a stretch of blueberry bushes, filling up a basket to bring back to the cottage. “We will go into any forest and find everything there is to eat.” And it became especially apparent that this tendency is instilled from a very young age when one of my charges, who was about three years old at the time, came with us all on a mushroom hunt and managed to find a rare and especially delicious mushroom that was growing two weeks before it was even in season.
Since moving back to the US, I’ve made a point of learning what plants in Minnesota’s natural ecosystem are edible and what kinds of things I can do with them. With the weather being warm and the flowers blooming, I want to share with you one of my favorite projects for this time of year: making violet syrup!
Many flowers, like dandelions and Viola sororia (also known as wild blue violets or sweet violets), are considered weeds, and people will go to great lengths to remove them from their lawns. I’m here to tell you that before you get out the bottle of weed killer, you should consider what these flowers mean for your kitchen! So many “weeds” are actually delicious and are packed with vitamins—did you know that every single part of the dandelion can be eaten? As a former bartender, I like to keep my home bar stocked with interesting ingredients, especially if I can make them myself. And spring and summer typically bring forth a crop of the dainty, five-petaled, intensely purple violets in my backyard. These can be easily turned into a bottle of syrup with the same distinctive hue and delicate, sweet scent that shines in classic cocktails like the gin-based Aviation and French 75, or you can use them to make frostings and glazes or to add a floral note to a glass of blueberry lemonade. We’ll finish this article with a couple of recipe ideas for your new syrup.
Let’s get started!
This is roughly four cups of violets.
What You’ll Need:
- Wild blue violets
- Water
- Sugar
- Vodka (optional, for extending the syrup’s shelf life)
- Lemon (optional, for color)
- Mesh strainer
I typically fill a four-cup plastic container with violets (stems included, not packed down). That may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t actually look like very much when it’s spread out across a few square yards of grass. Wherever you get your violets, just be sure that the area hasn’t been treated with weed killer or fertilizer first!
I find it most helpful to pluck the violets with the stems—we won’t be using the stems in the syrup, but it makes holding on to them much easier both when gathering and, later, when taking the petals off. It’s also helpful to bring along a couple of kids who are up for a little outdoor time and like picking flowers!
1. Once you’ve gathered your violets, give them a quick rinse, like you would for salad greens. Shake the water off and hang them upside down to dry for a little while—this isn’t necessary, but damp petals will cling to your fingers.
2. Next comes the part that I like to refer to as the meditative process. Grab a friend or those kids who helped you pick the violets, put on your favorite album or X-Men movie, and get to picking. You just need the petals, not the stems, for the syrup. The easiest way to get them all off is to hold the back of each violet’s head (also known as the calyx) with one hand and pinch all of the petals off at once with your other hand.
You won’t need to pinch too hard to pull the petals free.
3. Once you’ve collected all of the petals, get a rough estimate of how much you have. I was able to gather about a cup’s worth of petals (again, not packed down). However much you have, measure out half that much water: if you have a cup of violet petals, set half a cup of water in a pan on the stove to boil.
4. Once the water comes to a boil, move it off the heat and let it sit for four to five minutes. It’s very important to not scald your petals, as they’ll lose their color. After the water has cooled, pour your petals into a bowl and pour the water on top. Press the petals down with a spoon and try to get them all wet. Then, cover the bowl and leave it on the counter for a full day to steep.
5. When you come back to your violets, the water will have changed color. It can end up anywhere between a pale, dusty blue and a deep, cool purple. Strain the water into a liquid measuring cup, compressing the petals to be sure you’re getting all of the moisture out of them. Make a note of how much liquid you have, then return it to your pan. Set it to low heat—again, we don’t want any boiling or simmering, as it’ll damage the color.
6. Now, however much liquid you have, you’ll want to put twice that much sugar in (so if you ended up with half a cup of violet water, add a full cup of sugar). This will make a double-strong syrup with a refrigerator shelf life of about six months. If you want, you can add a tablespoon or two of cheap vodka to extend the shelf life even more, ranging from a few extra months to a few extra years. Stir the mix until the sugar is totally dissolved.
On the left is the violet water I ended up with. On the right is how it looked after adding the sugar and completing the syrup.
7. Now, take a look at the color. As I said in step 5, it can come out across a fairly wide range of hues, and the sugar will dilute the color. In the photos above, you can see that mine this year turned a pretty light blue; however, last year, it was a rich royal purple (the bottle of syrup at the beginning of this article). The color won’t affect the flavor, but if you ended up with something too pale for your tastes, first add a few drops of lemon juice. This will intensify darker shades of purple without changing the flavor of the syrup too much. Alternatively, if you have a lighter syrup like I did this year, there’s no shame in adding a single drop each of red and blue food coloring to achieve the perfect hue. Then bottle it up and you’re ready to go!
Now, what to use your fresh syrup for? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
An Aviation cocktail.
The Aviation
The Aviation cocktail was created in the early 1900s at a bar in New York, and in its very first iteration, it called for a couple dashes of crème de violette. However, crème de violette is an elusive liqueur, and this syrup is an easy replacement to achieve both the floral note and the lovely color that the liqueur would offer. Combine 1½ ounces of your favorite gin with ½ ounces of lemon juice and ½ ounces of maraschino liqueur in a cocktail shaker with ice. If you don’t have maraschino liqueur, grenadine also works in a pinch! Give the mix a brisk shake and strain into your preferred cocktail glass. Top the drink with a drizzle of violet syrup and garnish with a maraschino cherry or a fresh violet.
Blueberry-Violet Lemonade
I find that the flavor of violet complements blueberries nicely, and this is a great alternative drink for those of us who prefer nonalcoholic beverages. The simplest way to make it is to add a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries to your favorite lemonade, whether homemade or store-bought, and smash them with a spoon or muddler to release the blueberry flavor. Then, simply add a couple dashes of the violet syrup on top, give it all a stir, and enjoy!
Violet Tea Mocktail
Finally, try this take on a drink that comes from one of my favorite cafés in Prague, Cukrárna Alchymista, which served a refreshing green tea at lukewarm temperature, flavored with lemon and violet. Brew your favorite green tea (sencha is always a good go-to) and let it cool on the counter for 15 to 20 minutes or put it in the fridge for 5 minutes. Add a twist of lemon and a good amount of the syrup: for an 8-ounce glass, I do one or two tablespoons, but adjust this to your sweetness preference. A sprig of basil or mint on the side will complement the flavors in this drink.
The average backyard is full of nature’s little surprises, and violets are only the beginning. Whether your interest is bartending or baking, I hope this brief look into the goods that can be gathered has sparked some fresh ideas to finish out your summer!
August 11, 2020 at 08:30AM
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