Foodie Friday: Candied Violets
*WARNING: This recipe uses raw egg whites and flowers. Please make sure that your flowers are of an edible variety, and grown pesticide-free, for safetyâs sake (especially in this recipe, be sure to avoid using African violets, which are not edible). Be sure that if you are in the US, your eggs are of a high grade, and that the egg whites are properly prepared for use.Â
Servings: Varies
Ingredients:
-Whole edible violets, fresh and with stems still attached
-1 egg white per cup of loosely packed flowers
-1 cup superfine or castor sugar
-A fine paintbrush (if you donât have one dedicated to food, then get one⊠please do not use a paintbrush from the studioâŠ)
1. Gently wash the flowers by placing them in a sieve and gently spraying them with water. Gently shake off excess moisture and set them out in a single layer on a rack or absorbent towel to dry.
2. Allow the egg white to reach room temperature. Use a whisk to gently whip it until it is slightly frothy.
3. Using the paintbrush, gently coat the flower petals with egg white, holding the flower by the stem. Then sprinkle sugar over the flower until it is completely coated. Set it out on a sheet of parchment or wax paper to dry.
4. Allow the violets to dry for up to 24 hours so that they completely dry out. When dry, cut the stems off at the base of the flower. Store in an airtight container (shelf life of up to a month) and serve either alone as a treat, or as an edible garnish on cookies, cupcakes, cakes, et cetera.
So itâs been fairly busy in the restaurant of late, as students come back from spring break, and families come into the county to celebrate Easter. The Christian Holy Week is in full force, so Iâve spent a fair amount of my time cooking tilapia, shrimp, and salmon. With this Foodie Friday, I decided it was high time I took a break from seafood in favor of a sweet little spring treat thatâs been cherished since the Victorian era.
Flowers are a mainstay in witchcraft, and why shouldnât they be. Not only do they signify fertility and rebirth, theyâre beautiful, and every herb and plant holds some sort of property that we as witches may incorporate into our practice. Witches who focus on herbs and plants, be they green witches, garden witches, or -yes- even kitchen witches, often have entire charts worth of correspondences just for how to use plants in their practice.
Here, however, Iâm going to be focusing on our featured recipe and look at violets. The recipe can, of course, be adapted for any edible flower, but if I were to go into detail about every flower that you could eat, Iâd be here all night (not a good thing since I have to be back at the restaurant in a few hours)!
Violets are exceptional spring flowers for use in love, luck, lust, and protection spells, as well as sweetening spells. Depending on your practice, the use of the violet may differ!
First, weâll address teas. Violets in tea are often used to ease pain and fever, a practice that was particularly prominent in Romanian and Chinese medicine. In addition, it was common in Ancient Greece to use violets to help moderate anger, aid sleep, and ease depression - a property that would later also give the violet another common name:Â âheartâs ease.â
Rich in vitamins A and C, as well as various other nutrients, violets are an early spring edible that can be added to many different recipes, from vinegars to syrups and even salads, giving the kitchen witch plenty of options to play with in working with this little flower.
In matters of love, the flowers can be used in sachets, teas, or foods to help encourage faithfulness in a relationship or to encourage a growth of love and/or lust. Meanwhile, the leaves can be used in green sachets to promote luck and wealth.
The roots are great for cleansing, as they can be dried and added to incense for smoke cleansing.
Combining violets and lavender makes for a particularly potent form of protection and luck, as well as love, spell. This approach can be used in any way that you use the flower, be it burning in an incense, cooking, or creating a witch bag.
For the kitchen witch, violets are versatile and can be used in many recipes. Add the flowers and leaves to a salad, make a floral syrup or vinegar, candy them, or create a floral water. These are just a few ideas of what you can do with violets.
Ultimately, to sum all of this up, violets are a little flower sometimes approached as a weed. But in terms of medicine, culinary use, and witchcraft, this little weed is actually an early spring treasure. Consider different ways to incorporate violets into your practice (and your recipes), and see where this little blossom takes you!
Joshâs Self-Love Candy Jar
-Make candied violets as above, visualizing happiness, health, and confidence as you do so. Channel this intent into the crafting of the snack for extra umph.
-Cleanse a jar and begin adding your flowers, chanting or focusing on positive affirmations as you add each flower: âBy the first flower, I find joy in the small things. By the second flower, I see my inner beauty. By the third flower, I see beauty around meâŠâ
-When the jar is full, enchant it as a whole before adding the lid. For added effect, draw or trace a symbol or sigil for your intent on the lid or jar.
-Once a day, eat a candied violet while visualizing that intent. You feed the spell by feeding yourself!
May all your meals be blessed!
Blessed Be! )O(
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