This weekend I celebrated my 17 year anniversary with my partner and best friend. One sure sign of the beginning of May and our anniversary are the violets blooming in our back yard. We have a pretty wild back yard. It backs up to woods on two sides and has a mixture of violets, dandelions, grape hyacinth, spring beauty, and sweet william. One year when we first had our chickens we let them free roam in the back yard and they nearly pick the yard clean of all of the violets. Now they stay in their run and the violets are back in full glory.
I had seen a couple mentions of people making syrups and jellies with violets and so I decided to give it a try this weekend. I slipped off my sandals and wandered around the yard of this home my partner and I had made together. We moved here when our oldest was about 8 months old. I listened to the sounds, smelled the spring air and gathered up about a pint jar full of the delicate purple flowers.
I followed the pretty simple instructions I read on a couple spots; covered the flowers with boiling water, let sit for 24 hours, strain and add 2 cup white sugar for every cup of liquid over a very low heat until the sugar was dissolved. I added just a couple drops of lemon juice and then bottled it up.
I shared one jar with my mama as an early mother's day gift and the other jar I slipped into the fridge to save for my love and our boys. It is the most gorgeous color of purple. My youngest said it looks like it came from the Black Panther movie! Either way I am going to call it a win. Next year I think I will infuse some honey with these beautiful little flowers that chose our yard to grow in!
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