With April come violets!

Friday, March 28, 2008

I’ve heard it said that April is the cruelest month here in Pennsylvania in terms of locally grown produce.  But with April usually comes violets.  Around my house we generally tend to start see them popping up around mid-April through the end of May.  Most people don’t look at wild violets growing in the yard and think “Hey, I think I’ll eat those!” but foraging for wild violets is a sweet way to get in some early locally grown food.

Yeah, ‘sweet’.  Get it?  I make candied violets every Spring.

True, candied violets don’t taste like much except, well, sugar.  But if you’re decorating a cake, they’re useful to have.  Or they’re good just as a snack.  And they last practically forever.

Here’s how you do it -

1. First, go out into the yard or someone else’s yard or wherever violets are growing and pick a couple big handfuls.  Whatever you do, make sure you pick them from places you know haven’t been treated with pesticides or herbicides or any other potentially dangerous chemicals.
2. Wash the violets very gently.  You can soak the flowers in cold water for a little while or gently swish them in water, as you prefer.  Before you start candying the violets, though, you need to make sure the violets are completely dry...so be sure you give them enough time to air dry.
3. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
4. Make egg wash using egg whites from two room temperature eggs with a pinch of water.  Whisk the egg white/water mixture until it’s just very lightly a little frothy.
5. Crush a half cup of granulated sugar with a mortar and pestle.  It doesn’t have to be like powder, but it should be smaller granules

6. Grab a small paint brush and a violet.  Dip the brush into the egg white and very gently but thoroughly coat the violet flower on all sides.  This works best if you hold the violet by the stem.
7. Spoon sugar very gently over the violet to coat it on all sides.
8. Lay the violet on a cookie sheet and very gently remove the stem.
9. Dry them in your 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let them cool completely, and then store in an air tight container.