Violets to Rock Candy
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Pick the leaves off the violets.
Boil the sugar until it reaches the souffle stage.
Pour the sugar into a candying pan about 3 inches deep.
Strew the violet leaves thickly on top.
Set
Place the pan in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 10 days.
Once hard, break a hole in one corner to drain off the syrup.
Finish
Break the candy out and place it in heaps on a tin to dry.
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
- Sugar
- Forms the structure of the candy as its concentrated syrup hardens into a glassy solid.
- Violet leaves
- Adds a delicate floral aroma and flavour to the sugar as it sets.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar to the soufflé stage. The syrup's concentration decides whether the candy sets hard. Too little boiling leaves it soft and sticky; too much risks scorching and bitterness.
“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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