Just want to know how I made my violet simple syrup? Click here.
The American dream of a beautifully perfect golf course type lawn has never been in my wheelhouse. When I was very young, my family had a typical yarded house, but once I was in high school, "yard work" was helping my dad make sure wild vines weren't choking out the towering trees around the house.
So it probably comes as no surprise that I am not much of a fan of perfectly trimmed monoculture grass lawns. They seem fussy and I am impatient. That having been said, I know that our front yard, a small field of clover, grasses, violets and, yes, dandelions, probably sets some folks teeth on edge. I am grateful that our closest neighbors either also appreciate it's eclectic nature or are too polite to say otherwise.
At this time of the year, the most prominent feature of our lawn are the simple blue violets that give it a magical splash of purples and whites. Violets are edible, as anyone who has seen a floral garnish can attest. You can toss them on your salads or candy them and top a cake. Or, you can turn them into a deep purple jewel toned simple syrup.
Faced with this abundance of violets, knowing they are edible and free from any herbicides or pesticides, I did what anyone would do and started searching the internet for uses for my pretty little blooms. There are plenty of suggestions out there. I loved the look of the simple syrups I saw online, but the recipes all over the place. That seems a little bonkers for something with only three ingredients, but that's the internet for ya.
One afternoon I took a container into the yard and started picking. I ended up with six cups of violets. That's right, six cups. In all honesty, I likely could have collected that much many times over. When I was done, I couldn't even tell I'd picked any just from looking at the ground! This is a great activity to do with friends or kids, but there is a certain meditative joy to doing it on your own, of at least I think there is.
You may wonder what violets taste like and my answer is "like violets." Not helpful, I know. Some people say they have a bit of a flavor and scent of grapes. Maybe a little they do. But they are more floral than grapes. So maybe it is like a flowery grape. It is a delicate flavor, not overpowering. I find it to be lovely and complimentary with lemon and other bright summery flavors. They are not really independently sweet, but the flavor of them lends itself to sweetness.
Violet syrup will change color if mixed with an acid, like lemon juice or tonic water. When I was a kid, I loved loved loved the book Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science. Making a lemonade with violet syrup gives the same easy experiment rush as seeing oil being chased across water by soap, or sticking an ice cube to a piece of yarn with table salt. Now that I am vaccinated and ready to see my other vaccinated friends on the screen porch for visits, I plan to use this nifty mixology experience to give those visits a little extra excitement.
Making simple syrups is easy, even infused ones. My recipe, such as it is, is below. This one does not require precision in measurements, so have fun and experiment until it hits right for you.
Here's my violet simple syrup recipe. It is an amalgamation of a number of other recipes I found online. This will create a syrup that is sweeter than a one to one ratio simple syrup, so you can use it more sparingly but with comparable impact.
Violet Simple Syrup
time: 12-24 hours
active time: about one hour
yield: six cups
You will need:
6 loosely packed cups of fresh simple blue violets, free of stems.
3 cups of DISTILLED* water
4 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar**
* distilled or filtered water is best for this as any acidity or minerals in your water may
affect the color of your end product.
** granulated white sugar will give your syrup the best color and clarity.
1. Once you have taken all of the stems off of your violets, give them a gentle rinse. Place into a large container, I prefer glass as it is non reactive and I can see the color progression as the violets steep. If some stems or leaves remain, don't worry about it too much, this isn't fussy and it won't change the flavor or color.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a rolling boil. Let it cool for ten to fifteen minutes and pour over the violets. Gently press the violets with a spoon or spatula so they are submerged. Go back and do this a few times until the violets are fully under water.
3. Leave the violets and water overnight on the counter. Cover with a dish towel. I left this batch of violets to soak for a full 24 hours. The longer they soak, the more vibrant and rich the end color, scent and flavor will be. You can see the deepness of the color change in the collage of the water during infusion. After 2 hours it already has a delightful light purple hue, but letting it have a full day really gets you that deep deep purple.
4. Once your water has turned your desired level of blue/purple, take a deep breath and smell the violet-y goodness. Some people say violets taste and smell like grapes. I can see that, a little, but I think they have their own unique scent and flavor.
5. Drain the water into another container. I didn't have cheesecloth on hand or I would have lined my strainer basket with that, instead I used a coffee filter. You can also just pour it through a colander, but the finer the filter medium, the fewer little pieces of violet will sneak through.
Not one to let any drop of goodness go to waste, I pressed the violets with my spatula and then picked up the remnants with my (clean!) hands to squeeze it until it wouldn't give up anymore.
6. Now it's time to make your syrup. I saw people who used a basic simple syrup ratio of one one to one sugar and water and also folks who use up to two cups of sugar per cup of water. I split the difference and used one and a half cups of sugar to water. This will make your syrup thicker and sweeter than other simple syrups (which are already quite sweet) so you don't need to use quite as much. This is a personal preference thing, I wouldn't recommend using less than a one to one ratio and wouldn't use more than two to one, but this isn't an exact science.
In a double boiler, dissolve the sugar into the violet water. Typically I am perfectly happy to heat a simple syrup directly on the stove top, but in this case, I wanted to dissolve the sugar low and slow to keep the violet color as rich as possible and also not threaten the delicate flavor with too much direct heat. You don't need special equipment. I took one of my trusty Pyrex mixing bowls and used it with a saucepan as a double boiler. I did want to make sure to bring it to a high enough heat to pasteurize it and kill any potential pathogens. Luckily I married a chemical engineer, so I could confirm with him that I needed to bring the mixture to 161°F for fifteen minutes and then cool it quickly to achieve this. You probably don't need to do this! But I am overly cautious by nature and have a trusty candy thermometer to help.
7. Remove your syrup from the heat quickly, cover it and place in the fridge on a trivet to cool.
8. Once it is cooled to a level comfortable to handle, fill your jars or bottles, a funnel is very helpful. We also sanitized the bottles that we ended up using with the same solution we use to sanitize homebrewed beer before it gets bottled. If you use bottles that have any potential yeast in them from, say, beer, definitely sanitize them to get that out. The yeast and the sugar might explode your bottles!
The syrup should keep for up to six months in the refrigerator. Use it in cocktails or mocktails, to drench cakes or for any other purpose for which you might normally use simple syrup. If you are planning on mixing a cocktail, remember that clear liquor will show off the color best. Also, keep in mind that violets are not a dominating flavor, to let it shine, keep your recipes light on strong liquors or mixers.
I've been working on some recipes for cocktails and mocktails. Watch this blog.
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