Homemade Candied Violets Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you use candied violets? ›

How to Use Candied Violets. Use candied flowers to decorate baked goods like cakes and cookies or as a topping for ice cream. Eat them on their own as a simple violet candy. Use them as a fancy dessert garnish.

To prepare, fill a Mason jar to the top with violets. Once filled, pour vodka over the flowers until they are submerged. Put a lid on the jar and shake daily for several days, up to one week. Strain and store in amber glass dropper bottle in a dark place.

Sunlight causes the beautiful color to fade so be sure to keep violet sugar in a cool dark spot. The color does dull down after about a year–just in time to make a new batch when violets are in season again!

Beginning foragers should only harvest the flowers of the violet. Leaves are edible but because the leaves are easily confused with other non-edible plants it is important to stick with the sure bet if you are unfamiliar with violets and their look-alikes.

Violets with yellow flowers, such as the round-leaf yellow violet, which grows in swamps (V. rotundifolia), are edible as well. Another tasty species is the swamp blue violet (Viola cucullata), easy to distinguish because its flower rises high above the basal leaves.

Candied violet leaves, in particular, were a discovery for me because when fresh they taste of cucumber, and when candied they're closer to mimosa. If you candy roses or other large flowers, I recommend separating them into petals. And speaking of mimosa, it can be candied successfully too.

The company was started by Charles Howard in New York City in 1934. In a small industrial loft on Broadway, Howard created the "Choward's Violet", a confectionery mint with a floral flavor.

Both violet flowers and leaves are edible. The roots must not be eaten as they are toxic. Using Sweet Violet Leaves: The leaves can be eaten just like any other green, best served fresh in salads or cooked like a green vegetable.

Topically, violet is used as a poultice, compress, infused oil, and salve for dry or chafed skin, abrasions, insect bites, eczema, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. It is cooling, soothing, and anti-inflammatory.

What is the benefit of violet tincture? ›

Violet is a classic alterative herb; encouraging the elimination of wastes from the body by improving liver, kidney, digestive, and lymphatic function. In cahoots with other tonic seasonal herbs, violet sets the stage for a nourishing transition from the heavy blanket of winter to the lightness of spring.

The use of violets have been documented as food and medicine for hundreds of years, and have probably been used since the beginning of time. The flowers, leaves and stems can all be eaten and used as medicine, the rhizomes (roots) have also been used, but very cautiously and only in small amounts.

If you've taken a long summer vacation from baking, you might be wondering if your sugar has gone bad while you've been off. The good news: Sugar doesn't really expire. (Unlike some other baking ingredients, like flours!)

I'll save you a little reading here and tell you that while, sure, both violet leaves and flowers are edible, but the part of the plant you really want to get to know are the heart-shaped leaves, which you can cook like any other leafy green.

The most distinguishing feature of common and wild violets are the pretty, edible flowers. The nodding flowers are held up on a slender stem (a leafless stalk) and have five uneven petals.

Topically, violet is used as a poultice, compress, infused oil, and salve for dry or chafed skin, abrasions, insect bites, eczema, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. It is cooling, soothing, and anti-inflammatory. See my articles on the topical uses of calendula for infused oil, salve, and poultice recipes.