Did you know that wild violets are a great source of Vitamins A, C and calcium? The leaves and flowers are edible and have a very delicate taste. We love our lawn violets around here and gather them to crystalize, for teas and salads.
We gathered violets yesterday to make a wild violet sun tea. To make the tea you need to gather leaves and blossoms (preferably after the morning dew dries off the plants), then put them through a delicate wash. We bruised them up a bit and filled our sun tea bottle with the blossoms, leaves and filtered water. Then we placed the bottle in the sun to steep for the entire late morning and afternoon.
While the sun was doing its magic Fauna made a sugar syrup for our violet tea. We got the recipe from our new treasure of a book called "Cooking Fun," by Rae Grant. When our violet infusion was ready we strained out the greens and kept them to make a violet salad for lunch.
The violet tea was a very clear color. We added a bit of Fauna's sugar syrup to sweeten it up a bit.
The girls garnished their cups of tea with a violet blossom.
The ladies thought is would taste like water due to it's clear color, but it had a delicate earthy taste to it. Very refreshing and yummy on this very warm day!
Visit candied flowers to learn how to crystalize your violet blossoms.
