Foraging 101: Wild Violets — cova raine: the joy project

Season: spring (April, May)

Location: Ontario; backyards, woodlands, forests, pastures

Item: Wild Violets (purple, white, yellow)

Hi everyone! Another rabbit hole adventure I’ve jumped down this spring is foraging. It started with mushroom hunting last fall, and then more research into what the hell all the green “weeds” were are around me while I was foraging. Frankly I was tired of not knowing the names or fuctions of all these plants…and what their magic could be. Partner that curiousity with a few good YouTube videos on foraging, a really good plant ID app, and an excellent plant book I acquired, have yielded some exciting results.

First of all, the planet is an effing fabulous place. A little plugging in back to our connection with nature has brought for me, even more WOW to the beauty and complexity of this place we call Earth. It’s truly so freakin’ cool, and every week new things emerge, and others die back. It’s this perfectly symbiotic cycle that just does its thing. And I’m finally taking time to really notice it and take it all in.

That said, I’ve been responsibly treasure-hunting and it’s yielded some fun results which I wanted to share with you.

(1) Wild Violets

A.K.A. Viola riviniana (also called wood violet or dog violet)

These you will see everywhere some between the sidewalk crevasses to pasture areas to random forest floor coverings…. delightful delicate violets. This plant is an indigenous plant to the woodlands where I live, blooms a lovely purple flower for about a month, and then its green heart-shaped leaves continue to grow and propogate throughout the summer. It’s an easy and low mainteance ground cover and easy to pull out if if gets a little ‘spready’ in your garden. I’ve transplanted them all over my little greenspace to patch in holes or as a border plant. I pretty much ignore them and they keep on doing their thing. Oh, and p.s. the heart-shaped green foliage is edible also!

Both the flowers and leaves are edible, and high in vitamin C. It has been used traditionally in herbal medicine to treat coughs and colds and some skin ailments. For me, it’s all about the creation of something new through a foodventure, so this is the first year I decided to made jelly and syrup from them. Violets can also be used raw in salads or atop desserts as sugared flowers (quite pretty). I’m going to share with you my how-to’s to make your own, and some ideas for how to use the prepared items you create. How cool is it to make jelly from wildflowers, seriously?

Oh and p.s., the taste of the violets in a syrup or jelly, in my opinion is a cross between a blueberry and a saskatoon (serviceberry). Sweet with a little tartness. And yes, it tastes like plant without sugar to bring out the flavours. Just sayin’.

Violet Tea: You need this infusion to make the syrup or jelly.

Step 1: Collect the flowers. Have fun and pretend you are in a period drama.

Step 2: Clean the flowers. This means carefully removing the petals from the receptable or calyx (green nub that petals attach to). Kitchen superstar note: I also like to spread them out on a tray for about 30 mins so if there are any unwelcome ‘things’ they can crawl away.

Step 3: Measure the amount of petals. Pour into a sealable glass jar, and then add freshly boiled water to make your tea. I used 2 c violet petals, 3 c. water to infuse. Leave to cool and steep for 18-24 hours.

Step 4: After completely steeped, strain out the petals, gently squeeze out any excess water, and your tea is ready to use!

Violet Syrup: I like to use 1:1 ratio for liquid to sugar. You can use alternative sweeteners (like honey), but I’d recommend using cane sugar as to allow the flavour of the violet to shine.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. violet tea

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 c. white or cane sugar

Pro Kitchen tip: Using white sugar will keep the violet tea more purple, cane sugar will bring a more grapey colour (fushia-esque)

Step 1: Add lemon juice to the tea. It will turn a lighter hue, which is very cool. (The more acid you add, the more it will react with the cyan colouring.)

Step 2: Heat the tea over medium heat, stir in the sugar until dissolved. Stire regularly while heating. You do not need to bring to a boil.

Step 3: Pour into jars, label and refrigerate. Enjoy! Will keep up to 4-6 months refrigerated.

Violet Jelly:

Ingredients:

2 c. Violet tea

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 c. cane sugar

3 oz/ 85g/ 1 package of liquid pectin (powdered and liquid have different properties in jelly making, so be sure you understand how they work differently)

Step 1: Add lemon juice to the tea. Bring to boil.

Step 2: Add pectin and sugar and boil for one minute.

Step 3: Skim any foam, and pour into jars.

Step 4: Process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Jelly will continue to thicken over the next 24-48 hours. Yield: about 3x 125 ml jars. Good for 1 year+.

USES: in cocktails and mocktails, with carbonated water and a sprig of mint, over cake, ladyfingers, over yogurt or ice cream, goat cheese on a cracker with a top of violet jelly, as additional flavouring in jams (raspberry and violet jam).

UPDATE: Over the summer I’ve been playing with a natural pectin (Pomona’s Pectin) and I much prefer it to commercial grocery types. I would like to revise this recipe next spring with Pomona’s pectin, so stay tuned in early 2022 for an updated recipe.