Like many low-maintenance lawns in these parts, ours is overflowing with violets during the spring. It had never occurred to me to do more than pick a few for cake decorations or include them in a photo shoot, until a friend shared a recipe for violet jelly. Jelly? From violets? What would it taste like? I was willing to find out because the color was so gorgeous that it could taste like dirt and it would still be worth trying.
Picking 2 cups of blossoms seemed like an easy feat. Alas, I neglected to pick them before the lawn was mowed, and found a mere cup of full, unscathed blooms.
Because of the light harvest, I halved the recipe and steeped only a cup of the violet tea/essence. This dark color developed over several hours:
For the next steps, the older boys joined in. Neither had ever made jelly before and were curious about the paraphernalia (canning jars, tongs, magnetic doohickey) and the process. They both love cooking and were eager to measure, pour, stir, and taste. Griff was a part of the sunbutter experiment and I let him know that I expected a color change from a chemical reaction during this process, too. We took a short video using my phone to try to capture the change in action:
The resulting color from violet infusion + lemon juice:
Next came boiling with sugar and adding pectin before canning the thickened mixture. I had wondered what, if any, effect the color of our sugar would have. We use an unbleached cane sugar that is a beige color between white sugar and light brown sugar. Would it muddy the color? When we first added it, the boiling liquid looked awful, very dingy. But after the sugar dissolved, the jelly became a pretty, almost-claret color.
It's not the bright, saturated lavender I was hoping for, but it's still very pretty. As you can see, one cup of flowers yielded five 4-oz jars of jelly.
As for the flavor? I had read that it's "floral," but to me it's a little more green. It seems to have become more floral over time (and with sugar), though. I wouldn't want it on a sandwich but it's lovely with cream cheese on a cracker. It's a fancy tea kind of jelly, not an everyday one.
I noticed on Friday that a friend's backyard is bursting with violets and I know they don't use chemical fertilizers or pest control, so I asked if I could pick them. I plan to try a bigger batch this time, and will buy some white sugar to see what happens, color-wise. And after seeing how easy it is to create infusion-based jellies like this, even with kids, I think we may also try dandelion jelly, mint jelly, and some other experimental flavors this summer (with basil? rosemary? lavender?), as well as tackling the bigger efforts of berry jam.
What flavors would you invent? Maybe we'll make some for you.
