Wild Crafting: Violet Syrup
I am so excited to say that I made violet syrup for the first time this week! I love wild crafting and have tons of local wild sweet violets so I couldnât wait to try out this wonderful experiment. Plus, its gorgeous and came out amazing!
A word of wild crafting: if you are going to consume any wild plants, please make sure that you know and understand the risks. Eating plants that have been sprayed with chemicals = eating the chemicals. Also, be careful of leeching of other chemicals. For instance, I love in an old mill town and wild flowers grow in many ditches on the sides of the roads. These are NOT SAFE TO EAT because they likely have absorbed mill chemicals from the soil.  I collected the violets from the yards of two friends who I know care for their lawns without the use of toxicity.
Firstly, you need wild violets. I collected 4 cups worth. The original recipe called for 3-3.5 cups. Â
The first step is to make a violet âteaâ. Boil one cup of water and let the water sit for 5 minutes - this is so that you donât burn the color out of the violets with boiling water.  Then let the violets sit for 12-24 hours - the longer you let the violets steep, the better the color and flavor. I wanted to make mine during the sunlight to get good photos, so I let mine steep for about 36 hours.
Once your violets have steeped, you need to strain them out of the water. As you can see, the leftover âteaâ was a beautiful deep indigo color.  This is normal - violet syrup is almost always blue at first. You can make it purple again later in the processâŠweâll get to that.
Next, take your cup of violet tea and combine it with 2 cups of sugar on a VERY LOW HEAT to make a complex syrup. This will take a while - be patient.  Do not increase the heat as this will burn the color out of your syrup and (I at least) think that the color is a wonderful addition to this recipe.  You want to stir this until the water becomes see through again. Your syrup will most likely still be blue though as you can see, the sugar turned mine back to a lighter shade more reminiscent of violet. Â
If your violet syrup is too blue, you can add a dash of lemon juice to it to color it purple again. Be careful here - a little goes a long way - I made the mistake of trying it with a bit and turning it bright pink, not violet at all!
Then, let you violet syrup cool on the counter. This is so that the sugar doesnât crash back out of the mixture, undoing all of your hard work. When cool, store in an air tight container in your fridge - complex syrup can keep for up to 2-3 months. Â
What should you do with your violet syrup? It can be used in Spring cocktail recipe, as a drizzle over pancakes or waffles, or in any other culinary way that you see fit! It is sweet and floral and pairs well with gins as showed below.
If youâd like to learn more about the magical properties of violet, you can check out my post here.  And as always, if youâd like to support my work, you can Buy Me a Ko-fi.
Because I believe in credit where credit is due, I got the idea for this recipe from this video by The Green Witch on Youtube.
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