Herbie and I haven't done much this past year. I napped while the kids were at school, helped them with homework in the afternoon, and cooked dinner in the evening. Occasionally, we would attend a ball game or school event, but that's about it. There. You're all caught up.
This past month has been different though. We've all been thrown into schedule changes, working from home, homeschooling, and general quarantine of varying degrees. Our family is no different and we're all adapting. There are no more naps, but there is lots more homework. There are no more visits to the doctor's office, but there are virtual appointments. Springtime has been drastically different from years past, but it's comforting to know that some things have remained the same. Birds still sing, our woodpecker can be heard tapping away, blue-tailed skinks can be seen diving for cover every time we open our front door, and flowers are blooming everywhere.
Speaking of flowers, our yard is covered in beautiful violets. They're lovely to look at, but also tasty. I've seen photos of these lovelies being added to salads, desserts, and used as herbal remedies. When my turtles were much smaller, we made violet syrup. None of us really remembered what it tasted like, but we did recall it's gorgeous color as we poured it on stacks of pancakes. It was most definitely time to gather plenty of flowers and visit the kitchen.
While we couldn't find the recipe I used a while back, most of the recipes I could find all had the same ingredients: flowers, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Simple enough and since none agreed on ratios, I figure it's hard to screw this up. Fantastic! Once you've gathered as many flowers as you feel like picking (generally 1.5-2 cups seems to be a reasonable amount), rinse them off and cover them with boiling water. Allow this "tea" to steep for 24 hours. We made 2 batches and our second steeped for a few hours extra because I'm forgetful and easily distracted. The floral notes were much stronger, but still really good.
Once your flowers have turned your water a lovely shade of blue/purple, strain your flowers into a saucepan using fine mesh or cheesecloth and gently squeeze the remaining "tea" from your violet petals. Now comes the fun part where you get to experiment with what amounts of the remaining ingredients work best for you! We began with 1 cup of sugar which was the minimum suggested in the various recipes we referred to, but ended up adding 2 cups to our first batch. For our second, we only used 1.5 cups of sugar since we had collected fewer violets. Place your saucepan over medium heat, add your sugar to taste, then stir constantly until it begins to thicken. Your beautiful color will darken, but as long as you don't boil your liquid you'll still end up with a pretty shade in the end. It may take several minutes of stirring and will still look quite watery, but once it begins cooling on a spoon with the proper syrup consistency remove your pan from the heat and add a few drops of lemon juice. When you add your lemon juice the color will change depending on how many drops you add. You can see the difference between our batches in the photo below. The first batch is in the larger jar and is much lighter because I added a few more drops of lemon juice than I did to the second batch. Once again, you can't go wrong! Pour your syrup into jar(s) to cool completely and voila! You've successfully made a delicious violet syrup! Pat yourself on the back and then the hardest thing left to do is decide how you will use it. Some yummy choices for its use could be atop pancakes, added to buttercream frosting, mixed with lemonade, or whatever else your imagination comes up with. Enjoy!
Here's the rough recipe:
1.5-2 cups flowers
1.5-2 cups boiling water
1-2 cups sugar (adjust to taste)
2-6 drops lemon juice (personal preference for color)
-Collect your flowers (just the flowers, no leaves or stems)
-Rinse your flowers, place them in a jar and add just enough boiling water to cover them well
-Steep your flowers for about 24 hours, then strain with wire mesh or cheesecloth into a saucepan
-Place saucepan over medium heat, add sugar to taste, stir constantly without allowing your liquid to boil until it cools on a spoon
to a syrup consistency
-Remove from heat and add drops of lemon juice until you have your desired color
-Seal in jars and store in your refrigerator until ready to use
This past month has been different though. We've all been thrown into schedule changes, working from home, homeschooling, and general quarantine of varying degrees. Our family is no different and we're all adapting. There are no more naps, but there is lots more homework. There are no more visits to the doctor's office, but there are virtual appointments. Springtime has been drastically different from years past, but it's comforting to know that some things have remained the same. Birds still sing, our woodpecker can be heard tapping away, blue-tailed skinks can be seen diving for cover every time we open our front door, and flowers are blooming everywhere.
Speaking of flowers, our yard is covered in beautiful violets. They're lovely to look at, but also tasty. I've seen photos of these lovelies being added to salads, desserts, and used as herbal remedies. When my turtles were much smaller, we made violet syrup. None of us really remembered what it tasted like, but we did recall it's gorgeous color as we poured it on stacks of pancakes. It was most definitely time to gather plenty of flowers and visit the kitchen.
While we couldn't find the recipe I used a while back, most of the recipes I could find all had the same ingredients: flowers, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Simple enough and since none agreed on ratios, I figure it's hard to screw this up. Fantastic! Once you've gathered as many flowers as you feel like picking (generally 1.5-2 cups seems to be a reasonable amount), rinse them off and cover them with boiling water. Allow this "tea" to steep for 24 hours. We made 2 batches and our second steeped for a few hours extra because I'm forgetful and easily distracted. The floral notes were much stronger, but still really good.
Once your flowers have turned your water a lovely shade of blue/purple, strain your flowers into a saucepan using fine mesh or cheesecloth and gently squeeze the remaining "tea" from your violet petals. Now comes the fun part where you get to experiment with what amounts of the remaining ingredients work best for you! We began with 1 cup of sugar which was the minimum suggested in the various recipes we referred to, but ended up adding 2 cups to our first batch. For our second, we only used 1.5 cups of sugar since we had collected fewer violets. Place your saucepan over medium heat, add your sugar to taste, then stir constantly until it begins to thicken. Your beautiful color will darken, but as long as you don't boil your liquid you'll still end up with a pretty shade in the end. It may take several minutes of stirring and will still look quite watery, but once it begins cooling on a spoon with the proper syrup consistency remove your pan from the heat and add a few drops of lemon juice. When you add your lemon juice the color will change depending on how many drops you add. You can see the difference between our batches in the photo below. The first batch is in the larger jar and is much lighter because I added a few more drops of lemon juice than I did to the second batch. Once again, you can't go wrong! Pour your syrup into jar(s) to cool completely and voila! You've successfully made a delicious violet syrup! Pat yourself on the back and then the hardest thing left to do is decide how you will use it. Some yummy choices for its use could be atop pancakes, added to buttercream frosting, mixed with lemonade, or whatever else your imagination comes up with. Enjoy!
Here's the rough recipe:
1.5-2 cups flowers
1.5-2 cups boiling water
1-2 cups sugar (adjust to taste)
2-6 drops lemon juice (personal preference for color)
-Collect your flowers (just the flowers, no leaves or stems)
-Rinse your flowers, place them in a jar and add just enough boiling water to cover them well
-Steep your flowers for about 24 hours, then strain with wire mesh or cheesecloth into a saucepan
-Place saucepan over medium heat, add sugar to taste, stir constantly without allowing your liquid to boil until it cools on a spoon
to a syrup consistency
-Remove from heat and add drops of lemon juice until you have your desired color
-Seal in jars and store in your refrigerator until ready to use
