Candied Wild Violets
After drying, candying edible flowers is the best way I’ve found to extend the use of what is generally the most beautiful, but also the most perishable, part of a plant. The violets that can be purch...
Eating Wild: Wild Violet is Waiting to be Discovered
Wild edible foods, for me, generally fall into one of three categories. The first includes those delicacies that offer one, hyper-seasonal item that we anticipate with bated breath each year. These are the foods that people tend to focus on in articles, or on restaurant menus, and that are often harvested from special (and often secret) spots. Morels and ramps are the most extreme end of this spectrum, but this group also includes foods like wild asparagus; tiny, perfectly ripe strawberries and blueberries; or the tightly-fiddled new shoots of an ostrich fern. There is something undeniably magical about the flash-in-the-pan, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nature of these one-and-done wild foods, and I, like so many wild food enthusiasts, look forward to the moments in the year when these items come into season, and include them in simple dishes that put them in the spotlight.
The second category, far on the other end of the spectrum, includes plants like daylily or dandelion, which provide many different edible parts depending on the time of year you happen upon them. Tubers and roots can be harvested for use in the shoulder seasons when plants’ parts are either not yet around or are dying back, new shoots can be collected and sautéed before leaves and flower stalks form, buds can be harvested before they fully open and made into fantastic pickles (in the case of daylily) or cooked into savory meals, and bright flowers can be collected en masse when our lawn and gardens are flush with blossoms.
Where these first two categories overlap is with the actual window of time you often have to harvest the part of the plant you’re looking for at any given moment, which is, in a word, short. Each year, no matter how much I try, there are wild foods that I miss out on because the harvest timing doesn’t work, the weather takes a surprising turn, or because I simply forget to check on growing spots until it’s too late and realize I’ve missed my window. Fiddles become feathery ferns in the blink of an eye, critters get to brightly colored berries before I arrive with my harvest basket, and new daylily shoots quickly become tall and tough leaves and stalks.
It’s during those moments in the year, when I realize that I’ve missed out on a fleeting item during the window when it was available, that I turn to the third category of wild plants: the ones that offer an extended and more relaxed harvest season. Red clover, which I’ve written about here before, falls squarely in this group, providing a long window of harvest for its flowers and leaves. And sitting alongside that familiar favorite is another common plant that has been harvested for centuries, with documented use going back to Ancient Greece – the wild violet.
There are many different species of wild violet, all of which are members of the Violaceae family of plants that includes cultivated garden dwellers like pansy and Johnny jump-up, but the one I harvest each year is the common blue violet (Latin name Viola sororia). The common blue violet is a plant you have almost certainly seen growing not just around your yards and local woods, but all across the Northeast and, quite likely, in your travels elsewhere. A hardy and vigorous perennial, this wild violet readily self seeds and spreads from its roots, so it can often cover quite a bit of ground wherever you discover it. This makes it a plant that can be harvested without fear of damaging delicate populations or significantly impacting wildlife. It is also quite easy to spot, since it is one of the first plants to arrive in the spring, and bears instantly recognizable flowers and distinct leaves, both of which can be harvested for use whenever they are available. And what makes wild violets a foraging staple in my house is that both the flowers and leaves are available for a good long while.
Wild violet thrives in the moist soil of our woods and on the edges of meadows, and can also be found in full sun. I’ve seen huge amounts of wild violet along hiking trails, on the edges of fields, tucked next to boulders, and growing from rock walls. The plant begins flowering in the early spring, but those pretty blueish purple flowers can stick around for up to two months, far longer than many of its neighbors. Each five-petaled flower measures approximately ¾-inch across, and is most notable for its zygomorphic, or bilateral, symmetry, which is also the key characteristic of the very similar-looking cultivated Johnny jump-ups. This means that each flower is only symmetrical in one direction, and if you draw a line across a violet flower from top to bottom you will have two identical halves, but if you draw one from left to right the two halves wouldn’t match. The center of each flower tends to be white, and there is some visible darker veining on the petals. Each flower grows from its own slender leafless stalk, emerging from a rosette of leaves growing close to the ground.
Unlike the flowers, which look very similar to their cultivated cousins, wild violet leaves look nothing like the long and slender ones of the Johnny jump-ups in your garden, and are instead a distinct heart shape that I think makes them one of the prettiest leaves in the woods. They generally measure a couple of inches across, have deep and noticeable veining, and have small teeth along the margins that angle toward the leaf tip.
The flowers and leaves of this plant can be harvested for use whenever they are present, and have long been used both culinarily as well as medicinally to help with symptoms including respiratory ailments. Wild violet flowers are quite mild in flavor and fragrance, and can be tossed into salads, pressed into cookies and cakes, turned into tea, infused into vinegar, or dried for later use. I also like to candy them using egg white and finely ground (not powdered) sugar, let them dry out, and store them in an airtight jar so I can use them later as a pretty garnish for desserts.
Much like many other wild edible leaves, those of the wild violet plant can be used differently depending on when you harvest them. Young and tender leaves can be used as a cooked or fresh green and mixed into meals. When cooked, the leaves are mucilaginous, which makes them a good ingredient in soups or sauces where that texture is desirable. Once the leaves are too tough to eat fresh, they can still be dried and used in cooked dishes, or used either fresh or dried as a mild herbal tea infusion. I will use wild violet leaves throughout the fall in both of these ways since they don’t become bitter like many other wild leaves will. Since there can be other heart-shaped leaves in the areas where wild violets grow, in addition to carefully going through each of your plant identification steps each time you harvest, it is helpful to take note of the spots where the plants are growing while the flowers – the most easily identifiable part of the wild violet – are present, and then return to those same plants throughout the summer and fall.
There will always be something exciting about happening upon a fleeting wild edible find at just the right moment in the season, but on the days when it’s just not in the cards to rush and reschedule in order to collect a root, shoot, or blossom, it’s nice to remember that a plant like the wild violet is likely somewhere close by, providing a wild ingredient that is ready to be picked, whenever we’re ready to do some picking.
*NOTE: Always consult with trusted experts and refer to foraging books and field guides for 100% positive plant identification before consuming any wild plant. As with harvesting any wild plant, and particularly ones that grow in commonly sprayed areas, take particular care to collect from spaces you know to be chemical-free. Never pick any wild plant from protected spaces. Integrate new foods into your diet in small quantities to gauge any dietary sensitivities, and consult with a doctor if you have any questions or concerns about specific health issues or medication interactions.
Becca Miller lives in the Adirondack Mountains and works as a professional farm-to-classroom educator, writer, and photographer. A former Cape Codder in residence but always a Cape Codder at heart, Becca spent her time living on the Cape running a CSA program where she taught members how to use harvest items in new and creative ways. Becca is a Certified Master Food Preserver and a Leave No Trace Trainer, and her writing has been featured in Edible Capital District, Edible Vermont, and Adirondac magazines, along with Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard blog and Mother Earth Living’s Food Matters blog. Find Becca’s writing at beccamillerwriting.weebly.com.
Unlike the flowers, which look very similar to their cultivated cousins, wild violet leaves look nothing like the long and slender ones of the Johnny jump-ups in your garden, and are instead a distinct heart shape that I think makes them one of the prettiest leaves in the woods. They generally measure a couple of inches across, have deep and noticeable veining, and have small teeth along the margins that angle toward the leaf tip.
The flowers and leaves of this plant can be harvested for use whenever they are present, and have long been used both culinarily as well as medicinally to help with symptoms including respiratory ailments. Wild violet flowers are quite mild in flavor and fragrance, and can be tossed into salads, pressed into cookies and cakes, turned into tea, infused into vinegar, or dried for later use. I also like to candy them using egg white and finely ground (not powdered) sugar, let them dry out, and store them in an airtight jar so I can use them later as a pretty garnish for desserts.
Much like many other wild edible leaves, those of the wild violet plant can be used differently depending on when you harvest them. Young and tender leaves can be used as a cooked or fresh green and mixed into meals. When cooked, the leaves are mucilaginous, which makes them a good ingredient in soups or sauces where that texture is desirable. Once the leaves are too tough to eat fresh, they can still be dried and used in cooked dishes, or used either fresh or dried as a mild herbal tea infusion. I will use wild violet leaves throughout the fall in both of these ways since they don’t become bitter like many other wild leaves will. Since there can be other heart-shaped leaves in the areas where wild violets grow, in addition to carefully going through each of your plant identification steps each time you harvest, it is helpful to take note of the spots where the plants are growing while the flowers – the most easily identifiable part of the wild violet – are present, and then return to those same plants throughout the summer and fall.
There will always be something exciting about happening upon a fleeting wild edible find at just the right moment in the season, but on the days when it’s just not in the cards to rush and reschedule in order to collect a root, shoot, or blossom, it’s nice to remember that a plant like the wild violet is likely somewhere close by, providing a wild ingredient that is ready to be picked, whenever we’re ready to do some picking.
*NOTE: Always consult with trusted experts and refer to foraging books and field guides for 100% positive plant identification before consuming any wild plant. As with harvesting any wild plant, and particularly ones that grow in commonly sprayed areas, take particular care to collect from spaces you know to be chemical-free. Never pick any wild plant from protected spaces. Integrate new foods into your diet in small quantities to gauge any dietary sensitivities, and consult with a doctor if you have any questions or concerns about specific health issues or medication interactions.
Becca Miller lives in the Adirondack Mountains and works as a professional farm-to-classroom educator, writer, and photographer. A former Cape Codder in residence but always a Cape Codder at heart, Becca spent her time living on the Cape running a CSA program where she taught members how to use harvest items in new and creative ways. Becca is a Certified Master Food Preserver and a Leave No Trace Trainer, and her writing has been featured in Edible Capital District, Edible Vermont, and Adirondac magazines, along with Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard blog and Mother Earth Living’s Food Matters blog. Find Becca’s writing at beccamillerwriting.weebly.com.
Recipe