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This page states that certain wild plants are safe to eat. Its identifications and edibility claims are more than a century old and in some cases simply wrong, and deadly look-alikes exist for many edible species. Never eat a wild plant on the strength of this text.
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Home › Blossoms for Food › Violet Jelly
Violet Jelly
You can go herbaceous in a big way with the official wood violet by throwing a handful of the stemmed fresh flowers into 1 pint of boiling syrup. Cover, simmer 30 minutes. Strain, measure, and add 1/2 cup orange juice for each cup of syrup and sufficient gelatin to thicken. Chill in a mold. Indiana: Zinnia-the zinnia is an aster, so we feel that, together with the straw hat, it would be a more suitable snack for Mrs. Astor's horse.
Iowa: Wild Rose-a Frenchman named Vicomte Mauduit, raves about rose petals in The Vicomte in the Kitchen. He puts them in everything from salad to ragout, sips them distilled as liqueur, casts one candied petal upon a mixture of equal parts gin, French Vermouth and rose brandy and calls the concoction "Vicomte Cocktail."
He goes in, too, for rose water, rose cocktails, rose sorbets, rose petal jelly and jam as sensuously as any Chef of the Harem camping out in a garden.
Kansas: Sunflower-boil the youngest and tenderest sunflower buds you can find and then dunk them like artichoke bottoms, in vinaigrette sauce. Another recipe for sunflower buds is given laconically in Gerarde's ancient Herbal: "They may be broiled upon a gridiron and eaten with oil and vinegar."
Kentucky: Blue Grass-page Nebuchadnezzar.
Louisiana: Magnolia-the ripe rich perfume is almost a meal in itself.
Maine: Pine Cone-just heat big ripe cones from nut or stone pines, shake out the piñones and use them in all the succulent ways that pine nuts are used, from plain to rich stuffings.
Maryland: Blackeyed Susan-not so good for candypulling as for petal-pulling in the great picnic game "he loves me, loves me not."
Massachusetts: Mayflower-A good substitute for the European woodruff that makes the German Maie-Bowle or May Wine such a hit. In a punch bowl put a bunch of Mayflowers, but first pinch off the soapy tasting stems, then pour a bottle of iced Moselle, Hock or any dry white wine over the bouquet, cover closely and set in the refrigerator for half an hour. After that, take out the flowers and pour in simple syrup, a jigger of Curacao, 1/2 cup of brandy, slices of lemon, orange, pineapple and plenty of wild strawberries. Over the top scatter varicolored petals of all the States you approve of.
In summer months mignonette blooms take the place of Mayflowers. Michigan: Apple blossom-although attractive on salads and sandwiches and a snappy garnish for drinks, the very best way to use apple blossoms is to let them grow into juicy big Northern Spys, Delicious or McIntoshes, and carefully refrain from knocking them down while green. Minnesota: Moccasin Flower-since this is the State where our whole national nosegay of flours is ground up into the makings for flapjacks, flannel cakes, doughnuts, crullers and such, we suggest that the Pillsbury Flour be substituted for the antiquated Indian flower that still wears moccasins.
Mississippi: Magnolia-Page Louisiana!-this will serve only for an olfactory feast.
Missouri: Hawthorn-the blossoms are swell to flavor brandy, making an exceptionally savory hedge-row liqueur of old England, as we see in the following from the London Daily News:
What is called jelly here is a gelatin mold: there is no pectin, no jar, and no seal. Read it as a chilled dessert to be eaten within a few days.
- The syrup is undefinedThe text says only "boiling syrup." A simple syrup of roughly equal parts sugar and water by volume, boiled just until clear, is the most likely reading. Heavier syrups will set stiff and cloyingly sweet once gelatin is added.
- Gelatin quantity"sufficient gelatin to thicken" is left to the cook. As a rule of thumb, one envelope of powdered gelatin (about 2 1/4 teaspoons) per 2 cups of liquid gives a mold firm enough to turn out; use less for a spoonable set. Bloom it in cold liquid first and dissolve it in the warm syrup, avoiding prolonged boiling, which weakens the set.
- Thirty minutes is far too longViolet flavor and color are both volatile. A half-hour simmer under cover leaves a dull, faintly hay-like syrup. Bring the syrup to a boil, pour it over the blossoms off the heat, cover, and steep 20 to 30 minutes before straining.
- The color reactionA violet infusion is blue-grey and turns clear pink to magenta the moment acid hits it. The orange juice does this, which is why the finished mold is rose rather than violet. Lemon juice gives a brighter pink; adding the acid after straining, as directed, is correct.
- Only the flowersStem the blossoms as instructed. Violet leaves and flowers of true violets are the edible parts; the roots and seeds of several Viola species are strongly purgative and should not go into the pot.
- Not an African violetThe "wood violet" here is a Viola, the low woodland plant with heart-shaped leaves. African violets sold as houseplants are Saintpaulia, an unrelated genus and not food. Any blossoms used should come from ground you know has not been sprayed or treated.
- YieldA pint of syrup plus the orange juice makes roughly 3 cups of finished mixture, six small molds or one 3-cup mold. Chill at least 4 hours, and expect it to keep no more than three or four days refrigerated.