Violet Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Make the violet decoction
Boil the violet flowers in water for half a day in a warm place.
Strain the mixture through a cloth.
Make the syrup
Clarify the sugar and boil it to a ball stage.
Add the sugar to the violet decoction and boil it to a pearl stage.
Skim the syrup and strain it again if necessary.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Garden violet flowers
- Provide the flavour and colour that give the syrup its character.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and, when boiled down, thickens it into a syrup.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar to a pearl stage. Sugar syrup thickens as water boils off and its concentration rises. Stopping too early leaves a thin syrup that may spoil, while overcooking makes it stiff and prone to crystallising. Checking the stage carefully matters.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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