What Is Violet Syrup And What Is It Used For?

Cooking with flowers is a fun way to make a dish more seasonal and add some brightness to your plate. Of course, you have to be careful when choosing which plants to eat, but there are plenty of edible flowers out there and different ways to cook with them.

Violets add such vibrant purple to a dish, and Aldi's harnessed this power to make a violet salt, according to Reddit. But violets can also add wonderful sweetness to desserts, and one great way to cook with violets is to make them into syrup. However, before you start picking flowers for violet syrup, it's important to distinguish which violets are safe or unsafe to eat. 

Be sure not to pick any flowers that have been sprayed with chemicals or pesticides (per The Spruce Eats); this isn't something you want to be eating! Also, you should only use the petals of violets, because the roots of some violet species cause nausea and vomiting if eaten. Before picking, be sure to check that the violets are actually edible. If you aren't sure, the best thing to do is consult experts or pass on the flowers. Once you do have the right kind of violets, you're ready to start your syrup!

Essentially, violet syrup is just a type of flavored simple syrup, so you don't need many ingredients to create this refreshing and floral sweetener. With The Spruce Eats' recipe, all you need is one cup of water, one cup of violet petals, and one cup of sugar. You'll start by taking the petals off the stems and removing all the green parts. Then, boil the water, pour it over the petals, and let them soak for a day. The next day, make a water bath, and add sugar to the violet petals and water. Stir to dissolve the sugar, and then strain the violets and store your syrup in the fridge. 

You can also play around with the sweetness of your syrup. Some recipes call for more sugar — for example, Nerds with Knives' recipe calls for two cups or sugar. If you have extra violets on hand, you can add more violets to your syrup for a stronger flavor; Feasting at Home's recipe calls for three to four cups of violets. Feasting at Home also mentions that it's important not to let the water boil once you add sugar to preserve the taste of the violets. These two recipes say that if you add a couple drops of lemon juice, the syrup will turn from blue to purple! If you don't want to make your own violet syrup, you also can find it on Amazon.

So now you have a syrup with a bright blue or purple hue, and you might be wondering what this tastes like. In fact, what exactly do violets even taste like? SC Times described violets as "sweet and extremely floral," and violet syrup is sure to be sweet. On their website, Monin describes their violet syrup as having a "mild, floral, springtime flavor."

Mix That Drink had a more detailed description for the taste of Creme de Violette, which is a violet liqueur, saying, "A glass of Creme de Violette smells flowery and sweet –- and strangely familiar, to me at least. I've heard that it tastes a lot like violet candy, which I don't recall ever tasting. Maybe it reminds me of a perfume I once had. It's a very delicate scent, but it's well-defined and memorable. There's a note to it that's almost earthy. It's actually hard to describe it any better than that." But with something as unique as violet syrup, the best way to find out what it tastes like is to try some for yourself.

There's a wide variety of uses for violet syrup — just think of it like a simple syrup, just more floral and something that feels a lot more decadent! The Spruce Eats suggests adding your violet syrup to drinks like club soda or lemonade, and you can also make cocktails (or mocktails!) with violet syrup. Nerds with Knives says that you can keep your alcoholic drinks simple by adding a touch of syrup to champagne or you make an aviation cocktail with violet syrup. Besides the syrup itself, all you need is gin, some maraschino syrup, and lemon juice for an aviation cocktail.

If you've got more of a sweet tooth, The Spruce Eats writes that violet syrup is great in buttercream frostings or for macarons. We can only imagine the wonderful color and flavor that macarons with violet syrup would add to a dessert platter for afternoon tea! If you decide to frost a cake with violet buttercream, adding extra fresh violets as a topping and garnish will give the cake a gorgeous finishing touch.