When it’s the season, going on a walk and picking up some violet flowers is a really nice activity! These flowers have a very delicate perfume. I like to make syrup with violet flowers as it makes a syrup with a very delicate floral flavor.
You can simply drink the syrup with still or sparkling water or add it to your cocktails or other recipes like cakes, panna cotta or crème brûlée for instance! Have fun!
Violet syrup
Ingredients
- About a hundred violet flowers about 15 g
- 12,5 cl water
- 125 g sugar
- ½ tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Start by first sorting out the violets from the twigs or other unwanted items. Remove the stems of the flowers.
- Put a very fine strainer (such as a chinois) over a saucepan.
- Rinse the violets under a thin stream of cold water.
- Put the flowers in a bowl and pour over the water and lemon juice.
- Cover the bowl, put it in a cool place and let infuse for 24 hours.
- The next day, put a very fine strainer (such as a chinois) over a saucepan and pour the content of the bowl.
- Squeeze the flowers well with the back of a spoon to extract the maximum of juice and color your syrup for several minutes.
- Add the sugar and cook on a very low heat for 8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sterilize a jar or a small glass vial with boiling water by boiling your container for 10 minutes. Then put them upside down on a clean cloth.
- Once the syrup is ready, pour it immediately into the sterilized jar and close.
- Store in a cool place and consume within a few weeks.
Notes
Depending on the amount of lemon juice you put in, you will get a different color. With a lot of lemon juice, you will have a rather pink syrup but with a more pronounced taste of lemon which will mask a little that of the violet.
Without lemon juice, I get a green/blue syrup. When I don’t use lemon juice, I boil the water first. Then I let it cool to 30 degrees. I put the violet flowers in a glass bottle and very gently pour the water in a thin stream over the violets. Then I remove the air with a pump (for wine bottles) and let it rest for 24 hours. Then I follow the same steps.
